SABC+ has passed three million registered users, the broadcaster said in a statement on Monday, roughly doubling its sign-up rate over the four months that included South Africa's first World Cup appearance since 2010. It did not say how many of those three million are active viewers.

Registration on the platform is free and takes a click, so it is not a subscription, a payment or a viewing session. The SABC carried 35 matches free-to-air, including every Bafana Bafana fixture, under a sub-licence from New World TV.

The financial context the announcement leaves out is the interesting part. The SABC posted a net loss of R253.3m in FY2025, up from R197.8m, with revenue growth of 1.3% outpaced by a 3% rise in expenditure and cash reserves falling from R401m to R59m. Of R4.936bn billed in TV licences, it collected R758m, leaving roughly R4.2bn uncollected.

Chabeli has told parliament that fewer than 20% of households required to pay actually do, funding just 55% of mandate costs. Government allocated R234m for 2026/27. A draft SABC Bill carrying a new funding model is not expected in parliament before the 2028 financial year.

TechCentral calculates the rate jumped from about 111,000 sign-ups a month to closer to 225,000, and notes eMedia's Openview and eVOD disclose their numbers the same flattering way. The SABC points to a second consecutive unqualified audit and 9.63% revenue growth in its commercial arm, while IOL reported the broadcaster sending final-notice SMSes threatening debt collectors over unpaid licences.

The SABC is not being uniquely evasive here. It is following the sector's convention. Openview counts every decoder ever activated, eVOD gave a registration figure then switched to percentage growth, and MultiChoice has gone quiet on DStv subscriber numbers entirely. Everyone publishes the metric that flatters them.

The trouble is the SABC has less room for that than the others, because its whole funding argument now rests on demonstrating reach that advertisers and Treasury will pay for, and a click-to-register count proves neither. Showmax claimed more than two million paying subscribers across 44 markets and still got shut down over R2.6bn in losses.

If the World Cup genuinely built habit, monthly actives and average watch time are the numbers that would win the funding fight. Not publishing them invites everyone to assume they are small.

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