Southern African research consultants BMIT have released its 2018 Digital Lifestyle Measure (DLM) results, which show that Netflix is close to overtaking DStv, owned by Afrikaner media empire Naspers, in popularity among “high-tech” South African consumers.
The DLM segmentation was created by BMIT in 2008 to classify consumers based on the extent of their digital lifestyles. Consumers are classified as DLM 1 (low-tech) to DLM 5 (high-tech), where a higher classification shows a more digital lifestyle. Consumers are scored by answering a list of questions about their personal digital activities, as well as the technologies in their household. Each consumer then receives a total DLM score, which indicates which of the DLM segments they fall into.
MyBroadband.co.za reports it needs to be noted that the DLM classification only applies to consumers who have Internet access. The website warns that there is a far higher percentage of DLM 1 and DLM 2 consumers in South Africa than DLM 3, 4, and 5.
As far as home entertainment is concerned BMIT’s 2018 Digital Lifestyle Measure results show that people using DStv at home increases as their DLM rating goes up. The report shows that 63% of high-tech South Africans have a DStv subscription, of which 45% are DStv Premium subscribers.
By comparison, 62% of high-tech South Africans have a Netflix subscription – which means that Netflix is twice as popular as DStv Premium in this group.
Showmax, which, like DStv, is a Multichoice product, is also doing well among DLM 5 consumers with an uptake of 51%.
This shows that ShowMax is keeping up with Netflix adoption among high-tech consumers.
A surprise result is that Cell C’s Black is the most popular streaming service among consumers with a DLM 3 rating.
