This year’s African Cup of Nations tournament was a resounding success, from a viewership point of view, according to Nielsen Sports South Africa.
The tournament set new records with a total unique audience of 10.3 million viewers registered during the semi-final between Nigeria and South Africa on SuperSport and SABC platforms.
“The unprecedented success of AFCON is a big vote of confidence in African football,” said Luxolo September, Head of TV/Commercial at CAF. “It proves that with the right people in place, African football is a globally competitive product that delivers commercial returns.”
This and other key insights were revealed in the latest data from Nielsen Sports SA, which is a global leader in audience measurement for brands, federations, rights-holders and broadcasters. Globally, AFCON delivered over 1.4 billion cumulative TV viewers, according to Nielsen.
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“AFCON was a milestone win for South African broadcasters, the South African sports industry and SAFA,” said Tumelo Selikane, Managing Director at Nielsen Sports SA. “It has also enabled us to extract powerful insights marketers can access through our research to craft compelling narratives that resonate with audiences worldwide.”
Errol Madlala, SAFA’s Commercial and Marketing Manager, added: “AFCON 2023 went beyond mere viewership numbers as it also became a narrative and commercial driver, especially when Bafana Bafana was in action. Our partners were able to leverage the tournament with fan activations driven by broadcast as our team progressed. As the tournament continues its growing influence in the global sports industry, AFCON remains a testament to African football fans’ unwavering passion and resilience within the continent and expats in many parts of the world.”
The latest AFCON tournament stood out from the previous competition, with a total unique audience 54% higher than its predecessor, equating to 22.3 million viewers watching AFCON and related broadcasts, compared with 2022’s 14.4 million.
Key matches, including the semi-finals featuring Nigeria vs South Africa and DRC vs Côte d’Ivoire, and the quarter-finals, topped the AFCON viewer ratings, reflecting the highest audience engagement. Notably, however, 70% of the broadcast hours throughout the tournament featured on SuperSport, with a total unique audience of 3.7 million.
“This reaffirms pay TV’s unrivalled dominance in delivering premium sports content to audiences,” said the Nielsen statement.
Despite SuperSport only being awarded broadcast rights two weeks before the opening match, AFCON’s appeal elevated it to the top of Africa’s football league viewership standings, with more unique viewers than any of the other football leagues featured on DStv’s dedicated sports channels. It ranked even higher than the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and it bears mentioning that AFCON had fewer fixtures over the tournament period.
Additionally, the Pay-TV channels emerged as the preferred viewing platform during AFCON 2023, given that parallel broadcasts of the same matches aired on free-to-air channels, with the majority of viewers choosing to watch on a DStv-SuperSport channel rather than free-to-air.
AFCON scored higher in viewership than the PSL, Premier League, Champions League and La Liga. Viewership also surpassed that of the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final, and kept climbing as the tournament progressed and the South African team rose through the ranks.
