JSE-listed media giant, Naspers, on Tuesday said it wants to build its pay TV subscriber base in the African continent.

The media group disclosed this on Tuesday as it posted a 27 percent gain in headline earnings a share for the year to March 2013 to R50 billion ($5 billion).

The company’s new African Pay TV strategy could work wonders for the firm as these are exciting times for TV in sub-Saharan Africa.

Many African states are encouraging investment, which also includes many inventive overseas TV companies.

The numbers of people are increasing rapidly in the continent and incomes per capita are on the rise, creating increasing middle class consumers.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s household totals could reach 20 million in the next six years, fast approaching levels similar to Western Europe, according to a Digital TV Research report released late last year.

According to the Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa report, Nigeria will account for about a quarter of the region’s TV households (for the 42 countries covered in the report) in 2017, with South Africa contributing a further 15 percent.

Nigeria will have 7.0 million digital homes by 2017 (up from 1.9 million in 2011).

Nigeria’s Pay TV penetration of TV households will grow from 19 percent in 2011 to 28 percent in 2017.

“A…shift is visible in user activity moving from personal computer to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets,” Naspers said.

“This trend…disrupts the existing business models and creating new opportunities.”