Yolisa Phahle is the CEO of General Entertainment and Connected Video at MultiChoice.
By Yolisa Phahle
As the global streaming market becomes increasingly crowded, our focus remains on giving audiences a specially designed service that is built first and foremost for Africa.
Africa is our only focus, and we are investing in a highly regional content slate that will surprise and delight in an affordable and accessible way.
The secret to building any successful entertainment platform sounds simple: just give audiences content that they want to watch.
The challenge is getting it right.
Whether it’s family drama, comedy, action, epic fantasies, off-beat sci-fi or adapting international formats like NBC’s The Real Housewives franchise for local audiences, MultiChoice’s position as content leaders on the continent means we have a deep understanding of African audiences.
We’ve been doing this for nearly three decades, have learnt many lessons and continue to learn.
MultiChoice Studios, which produces all original content for Showmax as well as the broader business, is the largest producer of content in Africa, with close to 70 000 hours of co-produced and commissioned titles in our library, in 17 languages and counting, reaching 21.8 million homes across 50 countries as one of the top 10 pay-tv companies outside China.
This represents a massive ongoing investment in our production industry.
The hyper-local knowledge that underpins our content strategy for Showmax has seen phenomenal growth across our 50 African markets.
Last financial year, we saw a 68% increase in paying subscribers, outpacing the market and proving that our strategy is moving us in the right direction.
Yes, the competition is increasing, but we know Showmax offers something no other streaming service on the market can. Our home is Africa.
Our content, platform and payment solutions are designed for African audiences.
Our filmmakers are empowered to tell their stories in their own languages, reflect the lives and aspirations of who we are.
At this year’s SAFTAs, Showmax is up for a whopping 158 awards this year – the most by far of any streaming service available in South Africa.
Showmax Originals alone are nominated for 52 SAFTAs.
Our product is similarly designed for our mobile first, data-sensitive markets.
We were the first streaming service in Africa to offer mobile downloads for offline viewing and the first to launch a mobile-only plan.
We currently offer the lowest data streaming option on the continent.
Showmax also accept payments in more local currencies and payment platforms than any other streaming service globally.
Interestingly we’ve found that by focusing on telling stories for Africa, they are increasingly finding global audiences.
Internationally, there is a growing appetite for more diverse stories, whether it’s Turkish telenovelas, South Korean series or African superheroes.
We can see this in the increased investment in producing African content and the increase in coproductions with international studios.
MultiChoice Studios sold 172 movies and series internationally last year, including the Showmax Original Devilsdorp, the incredibly successful Cinemax coproduction Trackers, and Reyka, which opened the Monte-Carlo Television Festival and was sold by Fremantle to 80 territories, including BritBox North America, CANAL+, Channel4 in the UK, HBO LatAm, and Sky Italia.
This is fantastic news as our local talent are increasingly being cast by global studios.
Working with us, provides not only a chance to feature in the most loved shows locally but also the opportunity to secure work all over the world.
Of course, while the popularity of our local content is getting most of the attention at the moment, our international content on Showmax is stronger than ever.
Showmax remains the streaming home for HBO and HBO Max in Africa, including the most nominated show overall at the 2022 Emmys, Succession, as well as The White Lotus, which is tied in second place, not to mention content from a variety of other leading studios.
And while there are more and more choices for consumers, we are seeing the growth in super streamers, who sign up for 3, 4 or more streaming services at the same time.
Audiences go where the content is, and our plan is to make sure we have content that keeps people coming back for more.
With Africa’s population set to double by 2050, and growing internet connectivity off the lowest base in the world, we have an incredible opportunity and couldn’t be more excited.
Yolisa Phahle is the CEO of General Entertainment and Connected Video at MultiChoice.
BUSINESS REPORT