Africa: Analyzing Netflix's Attempts to Tap the African Market

Netflix
Katera of the Punishment Island, a movie produced by filmmaker, Loukman Ali (file photo).
29 September 2021
NexTVAfrica (Paris)
By Stephane Canal

According to Dataxis latest research, Showmax and Netflix are the dominant players in the SVOD market with a market share of 31.6% and 29.7% of subscribers respectively. The recent launch of a free offer in Kenya illustrates the change in Netflix's strategy to address the African market's peculiarities. On the other hand, Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video are struggling to get a foothold in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Commenting the latest findings, Louise Jianoux, Research Analyst for the African market at Dataxis declared: "In a region where mobile internet subscriptions represent around 40 times the number of households with fixed internet and continue to grow at a fast pace, OTT platforms are gradually turning to models adapted to the mobile consumption. Internet data packages remain expensive and limited for most users, and this weighs on the overall costs of streaming services, whether they are paid or free".

"In addition, high subscription prices can deter potential customers, especially when they have to choose between their pay TV subscription and an OTT/SVOD service. When considering subscription and data costs, their price may be less competitive than a basic Canal+ or DStv pay TV package offering a large number of channels and wide catalogues for similar prices", added Jianoux.

According to Dataxis, to address these issues, SVOD and OTT players have started to partner with telcos to offer data bundles and payment solutions tailored to African users combined with low-cost subscriptions on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. In January 2021, the African players Showmax and MTN Nigeria launched a special data deal for Showmax Mobile subscribers, enabling them to stream around 25 hours of entertainment for $5, including MTN data, followed a few months later by Netflix's mobile only plan amounting to $3 per month in Nigeria. Thus, if the subscription model is struggling to establish itself in Sub-Saharan Africa, SVOD and OTT platforms redouble efforts to democratize it.

Meanwhile, the amount spent on the production of exclusive and local content speak for themselves. Investments from international platforms may well be of great support to the development of local production in Africa, therefore challenging the dominance of leading TV players in the region.

For more information about the Press Release, click on the link below: https://dataxis.com/press-releases/414220/has-netflix-found-the-right-model-for-african-audiences/

Read the original article on NexTVAfrica.

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