Popularity ranking · South Africa

The 100 most popular TV Channels in South Africa

This curated ranking covers the 100 largest tv channels in South Africa, ordered by estimated audience size from Rascasse's anonymized search-behavior signals. Out of 2.2k tv channels tracked in South Africa, the 100 ranked here account for the largest measured audience reach. DStv, Sky Sport and SABC 1 lead the list with a combined estimated audience of 9.7M people. Across all 100 entries the average audience size is 362k, and the largest, DStv, reaches around 4.3M people in South Africa. Audience size is the estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with each tv channel, derived from search demand signals. Rankings reflect search-behavior signals collected across South Africa and are refreshed weekly.

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How to read this list

Rank

Position in the Top 100, sorted by audience size from largest to smallest. Updated weekly.

Audience size

Estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with this audience, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals.

Country share

Share of the global audience that is active in South Africa. A higher value means the audience is more locally concentrated here.

Avg age

Average age in years across the people who engage with this audience in South Africa, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals. A dash means demographic data is not yet available.

Female share

Share of women among the people who engage with this audience in South Africa. 50% is gender-balanced; values above mean female-skewed, below mean male-skewed.

Ranking

Rank Audience Audience size Avg age Female share Subtype
1 DStv 4.3M 36.7 54.3%
2 Sky Sport 3M 48.9 18.8%
3 SABC 1 2.4M 34.9 58.6%
4 Netflix 2.3M 36.6 53.8% TV / music streaming
5 ShowMax 2.2M 35.7 55.8%
6 Discovery+ 1.7M 35.9 52.4%
7 NBC 1.4M 38.2 50.2%
8 Cocomelon 1.1M 36.5 60.2%
9 BET Networks 1M 20.7 41.3%
10 CNN Newsroom 987k 43.9 35.7% TV series
11 SABC 2 947k 36.1 61.1%
12 History (Australian TV channel) 861k 52.2 35.0%
13 SABC 3 845k 36.2 61.6%
14 CNN 713k 39.7 41.5%
15 Prime (New Zealand) 507k
16 Ster-Kinekor 505k 32.5 53.8%
17 CBS 454k 38.4 51.6%
18 Yes (Israel) 450k 42.3 26.7%
19 Viu (streaming media) 397k 34.9 50.9%
20 BBC Sport 365k 33.1 44.6%
21 BBC 347k 39.0 43.9%
22 Fox News Channel 331k 40.2 35.8%
23 Watch (TV channel) 308k 28.3 14.8%
24 TVS (Venezuela) 286k 31.3 9.3%
25 Nickelodeon 265k 32.4 60.5%

Want the full picture for any of these audiences?

Open any profile to see psychographics, top regions, peer affinities and demographic splits — all derived from the same anonymized signals.

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Frequently asked questions

How is this list of the most popular tv channels compiled?

Rascasse aggregates anonymized search-behavior signals across South Africa and ranks each tv channel by its estimated audience size. Only entries with at least 5 measured entities are listed.

How often is the list updated?

The ranking is refreshed weekly from the latest search-behavior data and re-published as a static page.

What is the largest tv channel in South Africa?

DStv currently leads with an estimated audience of 4.3M people in South Africa.

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