According to Digital TV Research, Sub-Saharan Africa will have 16 million paying SVOD subscriptions by 2029. It gives a launch day boost to Showmax, the rebooted streaming platform from MultiChoice and NBCUniversal.
South Africa and Nigeria will supply 59% (9.4 million) of the region’s total. However, African SVOD penetration will still be low by 2029, with only 7.1% of TV households paying for at least one subscription – although this is up from 4.7% at the end of 2023.
Netflix will remain the SVOD market leader, with 6.9 million subscribers by 2029. Showmax will be the second largest platform, with 3.7 million paying subscribers. With its roll-out expected to be limited to South Africa, Disney+ will only have 905,000 subscriptions by 2029.
Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “SVOD is a battle between Netflix and regional player Showmax. Rich in local content and sports rights, Showmax now has access to NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures and HBO content. Showmax’s parent MultiChoice recently rejected a takeover bid from Canal Plus.”
Showmax launches with a new look, app, and entire product suite. It will have three plans: Showmax Entertainment, Showmax Entertainment Mobile and Showmax Premier League Mobile.
