A far-reaching in-depth study of television reception throughout Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, led by Nielsen, has positioned Eutelsat (Paris:ETL) as satellite market leader within these countries.
The face-to-face interviews were conducted with 3,000 households in Nigeria, 2,000 in Cameroon and 2,000 in Ivory Coast, representative of the population of the geographical area surveyed.
Satellite television reception is the dominant technology in Ivory Coast reaching 68 percent of TV households (1.5 million households) and is also a major technology in Nigeria, reaching 41 percent (10.3 million households) and in Cameroon with 38 percent of the households (1.3 million households).
The study also revealed that Eutelsat’s 16° East neighborhood is the leading FTA position in Cameroon and Ivory Coast, with a combined reach of 1.2 million households in those two countries. In Cameroon, 16° East is the leading position and reaches a total of 940,000 households, representing 73 percent of the DTH installed base. In Ivory Coast, it has the largest FTA installed base, reaching 240,000 households (37 percent of the DTH installed base).
The 16°East position caters for a wide variety of tastes with more than 160 channels, among which are highly sought after local channels such as CRTV, Canal 2 International, Trace Africa, Novelas TV, RT1 and RT2, as well as popular international channels in French and English.
Eutelsat has the highest combined reach across the Nigerian market between its three positions, 36° East, 7° East and 16° East. More than 5 million households in Nigeria (one out of two DTH households) point toward a Eutelsat position. Eutelsat’s 36° East neighborhood is Nigeria’s leading payTV position, reaching 1.3 million households. It hosts DSTV, the leading satellite payTV platform in the region and groups together around 400 channels including 43 channels in HD accessible throughout region and includes top most watched channels in Nigeria such as AIT International, CNN International, Silverbird TV and Zee World.
Eutelsat’s 16° East neighborhood is a leading free-to-air (FTA) position and reaches a total of 2.2 million households and offers a diverse line-up of popular Nigerian channels such as CRTV, Channel TV and Silverbird TV, local content specifically popular to the Hausa community; My TV Hausa and Alwilayah TV Hausa, as well as international channels such as Aljazeera, France 24.
Eutelsat’s 7°East neighborhood has a reach of 1.4 million households in Nigeria, mainly catering to English-speaking locals, with Channel TV, TVC News Nigeria and international content such as CNN, Fox, BBC World news, Bloomberg TV Africa, CNBC Africa and Al Jazeera.
According to study findings, the need for HD is rising in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a growing demand for HD content specifically in payTV. This is coupled with a rise in the affordability of equipment such as televisions and set-top-boxes (STBs). The number of HDTV equipped households is already sizeable: in Nigeria 9.5 million (38 percent) households were identified to be HDTV compatible homes, 0.9 million (18 percent) in Cameroon and 0.5 million (22 percent) in Ivory Coast.
Note: Eutelsat is exhibiting at AfricaCom in Capetown from November 13 until November 15 on booth D40.
Executive Comment
Nicolas Baravalle, VP for Sub-Saharan Africa at Eutelsat, said the company is pleased to have established a strong presence in the regional audiovisual landscape, providing millions of households with access to a wide range of local and international channels. This study confirms that Eutelsat's 16° East position is the leading position for free-to-air broadcasting in Cameroon and Ivory Coast and that Eutelsat's three positions, 36° East, 7° East and 16° East, serve the largest combined audience in the Nigerian market. This is a testament to the company's long-standing partnership with many of Africa's leading TV channels and bouquets.
