South Africa’s SABC public broadcasting’s SABC+ streaming platform has signed up more than 3 million registered users, although the broadcaster doesn’t specify how many are active viewers.

Nevertheless, the number of registered users has doubled in terms of sign-ups over the past four months, which includes the period when SABC was covering the FIFA World Cup 2026.

SABC’s CEO Nomsa Chabeli told parliament’s portfolio committee on communications & digital technology, that SABC+ reached 1 million registered users in May 2025 and 2 million in mid-February of this year – an average of about 111 000 new registrations a month. By late June the platform closed the 2026 financial year at 2.1 million, 54 per cent ahead of its 1.4 million target. Getting from there to 3 million took roughly four months, at closer to 225 000 sign-ups a month

An August 3rd statement to parliament does not mention the World Cup, and SABC has not attributed the growth to it. However, the tournament ran from June 11th to July 19th, and the country’s national team played in the opening match against co-hosts Mexico, and the SABC carried 35 matches free-to-air, including every South African fixture, across SABC 1, SABC 3, SABC Sport and SABC+, under a sub-license agreement from sub-Saharan rights holder New World TV.

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast, VOD

Tags: SABC, south africa, World Cup