Broadcast Media Africa (BMA) has officially announced the launch of this year’s pan-African survey titled “OTT Content Streaming – Africa Deployment Status – Survey 2026.” In its 5th Edition, this strategic initiative is designed to map the current infrastructure landscape and provide a data-driven roadmap for the continent’s rapidly evolving digital media sector, ensuring that local broadcasters and publishers can keep pace with global digital shifts.
The African media and entertainment industry is currently driven by a vibrant creative talent pool and a young, digitally savvy population. However, BMA notes that a significant gap remains between this creative potential and the technical deployment required to sustain high-quality streaming. While global platforms have established a presence, many local broadcasters face critical infrastructure deficits, including high development costs, limited access to skilled technical talent, and the complexities of managing cloud-based distribution. These foundational challenges often hamper scalability and limit local creators’ ability to compete effectively in the digital space.
In response to these challenges, the BMA survey aims to achieve several critical objectives. It will map existing deployment maturity by identifying the status of OTT platforms across the continent, while simultaneously assessing technological gaps in key areas such as high-speed internet, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), and cloud-based IP infrastructure.
Furthermore, the survey will identify the specific investment and financial requirements for upgrading legacy systems and analyse regional differences in monetisation strategies, such as how broadcasters balance AVOD, SVOD, and FAST models. By benchmarking these findings against global standards, BMA will provide a clear picture of Africa’s standing in the international market.
Upon completion, the survey will yield a detailed report featuring a data dashboard of key adoption metrics and strategic recommendations for investors and policymakers. These actionable insights will serve as a foundation for bridging the “digital deployment gap”. They will pave the way for specialised research into emerging sub-sectors such as mobile-first streaming, AI-driven content personalisation, and gaming integration.
Through this initiative, BMA seeks to empower stakeholders to make informed decisions that will unlock the full economic potential of Africa’s digital future.
