On 11 June during the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reached a new local viewership record of 75.85% audience share. This was measured by independent international research company AGB Nielson.
This milestone was achieved even after the SABC opted to supplement its expense for buying the rights for both the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups by on selling the right to broadcast the first African FIFA World Cup to Multichoice’s pay-TV channel SuperSport. The latter achieved 11% market share.
The SABC has, in its bid to ensure that most people have the opportunity to watch this historic World Cup, established partnerships with Municipalities across the country to activate 46 Public Viewing Areas (PVA’s) where the corporation’s main role is to provide signal and access to South African’s who otherwise would not have access to TV. The viewership generated from this activation does not form part of the 75.85% viewership that was recorded by the AGB Nielsen survey.
The corporation, has also in partnership with Sentech and Department of Communications gone on to provide low signal transmitters to rural areas in some parts of the country, to ensure that they receive the World Cup broadcast.
