South Africa-based pay-TV operator MultiChoice has agreed to add Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to its TV offering and has posted solid year-end results.
MultiChoice said in its results presentation that it had agreed on deals with Netflix and Amazon to integrate their services into its Explora decoder. The pay-TV operator has also launched field trials of its own DStv streaming product.
“We have long been a content aggregator, and this is proof of our aggregator model at work; providing simplicity, choice and convenience for our customers,” said CEO Calvo Mawela.
“As our industry evolves, we believe that we are well-positioned to benefit from both worlds; a large, growing pay TV market in Africa, as well as an emerging over-the-top opportunity, where our own OTT services and aggregation capabilities can drive success.”
MultiChoice said that its own DStv streaming offering would launch later this year.
The company already provides a streaming offering, Showmax, which is also available on Explora; which can be seen as a competitor with Netflix and Amazon to some extent.
However, the move to integrate the latter represents a significant shift in strategy. Showmax recently began trialling streaming sports.
And though Netflix doesn’t reveal its subscriber numbers outside America, Techpoint Africa reported that Netflix probably had less than 50,000 subscribers in Nigeria as at Q2, 2019.
This was based on Nigeria not making the top 50 and Luxembourg, occupying the 50th spot, having 52,151 subscribers; South Africa, the only African country in the top 50, ranked 41st with 152,588 subscribers.
Expectedly, the number of Nigerian subscribers will definitely have increased with the COVID-19 lockdown making entertainment a priority. And with Amazon Prime being a less expensive streaming option, it also has its fair share of subscribers.
Nevertheless, MultiChoice’s moves appear to be positioning the company well for customer retention and also acquisition.
