- Rugby leads South African sports viewership, ahead of soccer and cricket among the consumer class.
- Greater inclusivity and the “Siya Kolisi effect” have made rugby South Africa’s most gender-balanced major sport.
- Live sport strengthens social cohesion while driving spending at stadiums, pubs, taverns and fan venues.
- South Africans are embracing hybrid sports viewing through TV, streaming, YouTube, TikTok and social media.
- Younger audiences are shifting from traditional pay-TV to cheaper, mobile-first streaming and digital sports communities.
In South Africa, sport spectatorship is more than entertainment. It plays an outsized cultural role, giving us a shared national ‘language’ and a powerful source of identity that spans our diverse communities. For many South Africans, supporting a national team is intergenerational, emotional and tied to intense moments of national pride.
Beyond identity, sport also functions as one of the country’s most important forms of social cohesion and public gathering.
Major matches such as Springbok and Protea tests or key Bafana Bafana fixtures routinely become communal events watched in homes, sports bars, taverns, stadiums and fan spaces. Sport creates rare moments of shared attention and collective excitement.
Women putting rugby at the top of the Big 3 SA sports
“Over the years, we have watched rugby become the most popular spectator sport for South Africa’s consumer class, the 14 million adults living in households of R10k+ monthly income,” says BrandMapp’s director of storytelling, Brandon de Kock.
“We know that 95% of South Africa’s consumer class adults are interested in playing or watching some sort of sport. 44% of them watch rugby, 42% soccer and 29% cricket. These are the Big 3.”
There’s nothing quite like success on the global stage to galvanise sports fans, and as the reigning World Cup Champions with back-to-back wins in 2019 and 2023, and the only team so far to win four World Cup titles, the Springboks have certainly earned their fans support and fervour.
“So the answer to the question about “Who cares about the All Blacks rugby tour?” is simple: many millions of South Africans!
“But there are other factors at play,” says De Kock. “First, there’s what I call the ‘Siya Kolisi-effect’, where we have seen teams, from the national to the youth level, become genuinely democratised, bringing South Africans from all walks of life together around rugby. But our data points to yet a less acknowledged aspect.
“Overall, and with few exceptions like swimming and netball, sports-watching skews towards male. Rugby viewership used to be particularly male dominated, but over the years it has actually become the most gender agnostic of sports that South Africans love to watch,” he says.
“Whereas only 29% of consumer class women watch soccer versus 56% of men, the gender gap is considerably diminished when it comes to rugby. Our latest annual survey shows that currently 38% of women are watching alongside 49% of men – and I think that this is a major factor in rugby taking top spot on the podium.”
Sports watching is better together
Active spectatorship is a major passion point, especially for men – 27% of them describe their sports viewership as “a big part of my life”.
De Kock says, “There’s a massive interest in live sports, and it is very much a social occasion. 37% of the consumer class say they like to attend live matches, and this is the end of the market that can afford the ticket prices. 27% say they watch live matches communally at venues such as sports bars. So when large events happen, there’s a broad positive economic impact. Even more so when the home team wins!”
All of this bodes well for the Springboks upcoming 2026 Nations Championship in July against England, Scotland and Wales, and the much-anticipated Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry: All Blacks Tour of South Africa in August and September 2026.
De Kock says, “In our modern world, we also have emerging hybrid sports spectators. So, there are lots of enjoyable ways to be a sports fan, and you can tap into sport in multiple ways. In our post-Covid castles, there’s a good chance that watching at home on your private big screen is a very enjoyable experience, so whether they make it to the pub or not, there’s a good chance most sports lovers will be glued to the telly.
“We know that 89% of the consumer class watch TV; 65% on a daily basis – and we know that 42% regularly watch rugby on TV.”
From a generational view, Gen Z is least likely to watch sports on TV, but that is because, they are watching less TV in general than the older generations. But if they are watching sports on TV, it is still most likely to be rugby. De Kock adds, “However, when we put this in the context of the other data, it suggests that Gen Z are perhaps more likely to be watching a match down at their local pub than paying for a DStv subscription.”
Transitioning to a hybrid sports watching ecosystem
Globally, sport is still one of the last forms of ‘live appointment viewing’, but consumption patterns are changing, especially in more developed markets such as the USA, UK and Europe. Sports streaming platforms are gaining on traditional broadcast in overall viewing share.
Dgital platforms like YouTube have evolved from highlights into more complex sports ecosystems. While YouTube does not usually hold primary live rights for top-tier events, it is playing an increasing role in content distribution and extended sports viewing experiences with channels like SA Rugby’s Boktube and Die Hard Rugby building significant online communities and engaging sports fans in an entirely different way than ever before.
“The early signs of shifts in the ways South Africans consume sport are here,” says De Kock. “BrandMapp is tracking year-on-year declines in DStv subscriptions while affinity for streaming channels is still on the rise.
“And why not – if you’re an F1 fan, for example, you can get full HD action for about R 1 400 a year. And then there’s the football World Cup, which represents not just a subtle digital move, but more of a seismic shift.
“Not only did FIFA appoint TikTok as its official ‘preferred partner’ for the upcoming World Cup, but Sporty TV has secured the streaming rights for South Africa, so soccer fans can now watch all 104 matches live for R10. That might be the sporting deal of the century!
“Importantly, although streaming is now very generation-agnostic when it comes to consuming video content, there’s no doubt these new offers give mobile-first, younger sports fans exactly what they want – a choice across multiple platforms.
“So you can sit in watch in a pub with your friends, but also check an Instagram or YouTube channel for replays and analysis, or to react and comment during the match in another community. A match made in heaven, perhaps?
“So, there is already a hybrid viewing environment in South Africa. Big live sporting events remain commercially controlled and subscription-based, but the cultural experience of sport is increasingly digital, social and fragmented.
“We are perhaps at the beginning of a deeper trend of sports watching evolving from a scheduled television product into an always-on digital social experience.”
BrandMapp 2025 insights is available directly from the BrandMapp team at WhyFive Insights and by subscription via Telmar, Softcopy, Nielsen and Eighty20. For data access email Julie-anne@whyfive.co.za
