Cementing SABC Sport as a market-leader

SABC Sport, the sporting division of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), plays a pivotal role in fulfilling the broader mandate of the organisation: to inform, entertain, and educate the diverse South African population through free-to-air television, radio, and online platforms.

Tasked with delivering exceptional sports content and creating engaging experiences across these various media channels, SABC Sport has achieved significant audience growth and engagement on both television and radio. However, to sustain this momentum, it must expand its success into the digital space.

The SABC currently lacks the internal capacity to develop and execute a comprehensive digital strategy. As a result, they sought a cost-effective external partner to help realise its digital transformation goals and extend its reach across online platforms.

Planet Sport was responsible for building, operating, and maintaining a mobile-friendly, fully responsive website for SABC Sport. As part of this partnership, we provided:

- Our state-of-the-art publishing CMS
- A user data management platform
- In-built live sports streaming capability for their website
- Live match centre widgets to enhance the digital experience

We also integrated our advanced advertising technology stack through Monetise Hub, enabling the management of programmatic advertising revenue across the website, ensuring seamless monetisation.

Additionally, we launched a thrilling games platform with real-time leaderboards to further boost SABC Sports' user engagement. Fans can step into the action and compete, climb the ranks and show off their skills in various football-themed games.

To ensure high-quality, locally relevant content, we established a dedicated editorial team of six journalists based in Cape Town, focusing on content tailored to a South African audience. This team continues to work closely with SABC Sport’s senior management to develop and implement a cohesive product, editorial, and user engagement strategy.

We also collaborated with SABC’s commercial team to meet agreed-upon revenue targets, positioning SABC Sport for long-term digital success.

The new SABC Sport website was launched after six months of intensive planning, design, development, and editorial brainstorming to overhaul their existing online offering.

A key focus was on original and high-quality editorial content, a good foundational structure, and establishing a presence on Google, which reaped immediate dividends.

The number of SABC users prior to implementation was 35,845. Post-implementation, that user base grew 988% up to 390,220 in just one year.

SABC Sport is continuing to see consistent growth in users and engagement driven by a powerful combination of solid technical foundations, the local content team, and access to key sporting events, such as the Rugby World Cup 2023.

"Planet Sport Group's contribution has been invaluable, bringing in expertise and innovative solutions that have enhanced the digital experience for users. The partnership has not only improved the breadth and depth of sports coverage but also ensured that SABC Sport remains at the forefront of digital sports media."

Over the past two seasons, our partnership has led to excellent engagement and significant growth in traffic to our website. The Planet Rugby team has been a joy to work with, feeling like an extension of our own team and constantly bringing fresh ideas to the table."

Lerato Gumbi

Head of Research & Editorial

SABC Sport

Cementing SABC Sport as a market-leader.

The Mission

To pierce into the digital space, and empower SABC Sport to engage, track and monetise diverse South African audiences through Planet Sport Group's advanced technology stack.

Key Results

The Brief

The Campaign

The Results

Don't just take our word for it:

Lerato Gumbi

Leverage Planet Sport Group's highly engaged sports audiences