End Of The Road For Showmax As MultiChoice Calls Time On Streaming Project

MultiChoice has officially confirmed it will discontinue Showmax, ending a decade long attempt to build Africa’s answer to global streaming giants.

The move signals the end of one of the continent’s most ambitious digital entertainment projects. What began as a bold effort to compete with platforms like Netflix has now become a cautionary tale about the realities of streaming in Africa.

The announcement comes after years of mounting losses and slow subscriber growth that ultimately proved unsustainable for the broadcaster.

The End Of A Long Running Streaming Experiment

Showmax first launched in 2015 as MultiChoice’s entry into the fast growing world of on demand streaming. At the time, the goal was simple. Build a platform capable of competing with international services that were rapidly expanding across Africa.

For a number of years, Showmax operated as a complementary service alongside DStv. But as global competition intensified and streaming became the centre of the entertainment industry, MultiChoice decided to invest heavily in scaling the platform.

The most ambitious push came in 2023 when the company partnered with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky to overhaul the service. NBCUniversal took a 30 percent stake and brought with it the Peacock streaming technology, along with a large library of international content.

The revamped platform, widely referred to as Showmax 2.0, officially launched in February 2024 across 44 African markets. It introduced a redesigned app, fresh branding and a new pricing structure aimed at attracting millions of viewers across the continent.

But the relaunch failed to deliver the commercial success MultiChoice had hoped for.

Massive Losses Proved Unsustainable

The financial strain behind Showmax became increasingly difficult to ignore.

According to MultiChoice, the platform recorded trading losses of R2.6 billion for the financial year ending March 2024. A year later, those losses ballooned to R4.9 billion. The sharp increase had a significant impact on the broader group, cutting MultiChoice’s trading profit nearly in half to R4 billion.

Subscriber growth also fell short of the company’s internal targets.

MultiChoice Group CEO David Mignot acknowledged the problem in a recent interview, admitting that the platform simply could not continue in its current form.

The reality was clear. Despite the scale of investment and international partnerships, the economics of streaming in Africa remained extremely challenging.

The Real Challenge Facing Streaming In Africa

One of the biggest obstacles has been infrastructure.

Africa may have hundreds of millions of smartphones, but reliable high speed internet remains limited in many areas. MultiChoice estimates that only around 4 to 5 percent of the continent’s roughly 100 million electrified TV owning households currently have access to fibre broadband.

For many viewers, the cost of mobile data alone makes regular streaming unaffordable.

This gap between the vision of a booming streaming market and the realities of connectivity has been one of the defining challenges for the industry.

In short, the audience potential may be enormous, but the infrastructure to support large scale streaming still lags behind.

What Happens Next For MultiChoice

Despite shutting down Showmax, MultiChoice insists the company is not stepping away from streaming entirely.

The broadcaster says it plans to develop its own large scale in house streaming platform designed to better meet the needs of African audiences while also appealing to international viewers.

The company also confirmed that the decision will not lead to job losses, adding that employees will be offered various transition options.

MultiChoice’s majority shareholder Canal+ has also indicated it will continue investing in premium content, technology and partnerships as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in Africa’s entertainment sector.

More details about the group’s streaming plans are expected when Canal+ releases its first combined financial results on 11 March.

A Costly Lesson For The African Streaming Market

The closure of Showmax brings an end to a ten year attempt to build a homegrown streaming powerhouse.

While the platform once carried the hopes of becoming Africa’s leading digital entertainment service, the financial reality proved difficult to overcome.

For the broader media industry, the story of Showmax highlights a crucial lesson. Even with strong content partnerships and cutting edge technology, streaming success ultimately depends on affordable data, reliable broadband and consumer spending power.

Until those pieces fall into place, the future of streaming in Africa may look very different from the rest of the world.

{Source:Tech Central}

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