DStv Stream has achieved a remarkable milestone, recording over 900,000 concurrent viewers during Bafana Bafana’s inaugural match against Mexico in the FIFA World Cup 2026. This impressive figure nearly doubles the platform’s previous peak of around 500,000 viewers, which was set during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 final.
The broadcaster highlighted that the recent match has established a new record for live sports streaming on its platform, marking a significant increase in viewership. Meanwhile, the SABC, South Africa’s national broadcaster, also experienced an exceptional level of streaming activity during the same match. However, its streaming service, SABC+, faced technical challenges due to a last-minute update to its platform and applications.
According to the SABC, a mandatory content encryption update was necessary to secure major international sporting events, but it required a platform reset. Consequently, many users encountered difficulties logging in and verifying their access just before kick-off, causing unprecedented strain on the system.
The public broadcaster reported a peak of 477,000 simultaneous users, nearly triple its previous record, despite the service outage. The organisation acknowledged the overwhelming demand for streaming and attributed the system instability to the high volume of users attempting to log in.
In addition to the record-breaking viewership, Thursday’s match was notable as the World Cup opener with the most red cards ever issued: South Africa had two, while Mexico received one. This match also marked South Africa’s first World Cup appearance in 16 years and mirrored the opening fixture of 2010, held in Johannesburg and featuring Siphiwe Tshabalala’s iconic opening goal.
DStv explained that the surge in streaming numbers reflects a growing passion for football across Africa, especially with a record ten African nations participating in the 2026 tournament. This expansion was made possible by FIFA increasing the tournament format to include 48 teams, up from the traditional 32. The 2026 World Cup is also historic as Canada, Mexico, and the U.S are jointly hosting it.
To cater to a wider audience, DStv made all 104 World Cup matches accessible through DStv Access, its most affordable package aside from the basic EasyView service.
