Africa’s over-the-top (OTT) video streaming market has moved past the launch phase, but operators are still struggling to convert deployment into sustainable, scaled businesses. These are among the key findings of the African OTT Content Streaming Survey Report 2026, presented at the 6th Edition of the OTT Content Streaming Summit — Africa 2026, and released by Broadcast Media Africa (BMA). Respondents spanned broadcasters (32%), content producers (29%), content distributors (21%) and OTT operators (12%), with Southern Africa (38%) leading geographic coverage.
Launched, Not Yet Landed
61% of respondents currently operate an OTT platform, while 39% have not yet deployed. BMA notes deployment is no longer the debate — execution quality is, with the gap between launching and scaling being where most operators now sit.
Connectivity And Infrastructure Remain The “Achilles Heel”
Connectivity was cited as the biggest constraint on scaling (30%), ahead of monetisation challenges (25%) and content costs/digital literacy (15% each) — a structural barrier requiring action from telcos, regulators and government. Meanwhile, only 35% rate their infrastructure as reliably stable, an equal 35% call it unreliable, and 30% report inconsistent delivery; 65% cannot confidently guarantee a reliable stream.
Monetisation And The Mobile Money Paradox
42% of respondents have no revenue model at all, and 53% offer content entirely free — much of the market is competing with itself on price: zero. SVOD adoption sits at just 5%, while TVOD (21%) looks more viable currently. The payments landscape continues to constrain OTT adoption across Africa. Despite mobile money being the preferred payment option for 68% of consumers, only one-third of OTT platforms offer mobile money integration. According to BMA, closing this gap represents a major opportunity, with early adopters seeing conversion gains of 20-40%.
Local Content Wins
Audience demand continues to favour content that reflects local interests and experiences. Local dramas, series and films collectively outperform international licensed content, with local productions and sports accounting for almost 55% of performance share compared with just 9.75% from international titles.
Economy, Not Global Platforms, Is The Biggest Threat
39% of operators cited economic conditions as their greatest external threat, ahead of piracy/social video (22%) and global OTT platforms, which ranked last at 17%.
Partnerships: Critical In Theory, Rare In Practice
78% rate partnerships as “very important” or “critical,” yet only 16% have active telco partnerships generating revenue — a 62-point intent-action gap that telco bundling could help close by tackling affordability, Africa’s top barrier. Separately, 50% of operators offer Full HD as standard, though only 5% offer 4K, while 50% face no local content quotas and 28% are unsure whether regulation applies to them at all.
BMA summarised: “Africa’s OTT market is in a mid-transition stage — the majority have launched, but the hard work of scaling responsibly is just beginning. Solving monetisation, investing in commercial talent, and building the right partnerships will determine which platforms write the industry’s next chapter.”
To access the full report, please check HERE.
