As competition intensifies across Africa’s digital entertainment landscape, streaming businesses are facing a defining challenge: how to turn growing audience demand into sustainable commercial returns while competing for increasingly fragmented consumer attention.
This challenge will take centre stage at the 7th Content Streaming Summit – Africa 2027, convened by Broadcast Media Africa (BMA), on 23–24 February 2027 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Under the theme “Profitable Growth And The Fight For Attention,” the summit will examine the business strategies, market developments and industry partnerships required to build commercially sustainable streaming services in Africa.
While streaming has transformed how audiences access television, films, sports and other digital content, the economics of the business remain challenging. Rising content acquisition and production costs, subscription affordability, uneven payment infrastructure and competition from free digital entertainment are putting pressure on traditional subscription-led revenue models.
The growing popularity of advertising-supported streaming is also changing the competitive landscape. Ad-supported video-on-demand and Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) services are creating alternative routes to monetisation, requiring platforms to rethink how they attract audiences, package content and deliver value to advertisers.
The summit will explore what profitable growth means in this changing environment, examining how streaming providers can balance audience expansion with revenue generation, improve subscriber retention and develop more effective advertising and monetisation strategies.
A key focus will be the fight for audience attention. With consumers increasingly distributing their viewing time across streaming platforms, social media, short-form video and traditional broadcasting, securing sustained engagement is becoming as important as acquiring subscribers. Industry discussions will consider the importance of local content, sports rights, content discovery, personalisation and audience data in building stronger relationships with viewers.
The programme will also examine how artificial intelligence, telecommunications partnerships, mobile payments and emerging distribution models can help streaming businesses reduce operational barriers, reach underserved markets and unlock new commercial opportunities.
Bringing together streaming platforms, broadcasters, telecommunications operators, content producers, technology providers, advertisers, investors and policymakers, the summit will provide a forum for examining the practical realities of building a profitable and competitive streaming industry across the continent.
As Africa’s streaming market enters a more commercially demanding phase, the 2027 gathering will challenge industry stakeholders to look beyond subscriber numbers and consider the strategies that can translate audience engagement into lasting business value.
The 7th Content Streaming Summit – Africa 2027 invites industry stakeholders to participate in this important conversation and contribute to shaping the next phase of Africa’s streaming economy.
Event: 7th Content Streaming Summit – Africa 2027
Theme: Profitable Growth And The Fight For Attention
Date: 23–24 February 2027
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
For registration, programme participation and partnership enquiries, visit: https://streaming.broadcastingandmedia.com/
