Netflix Mobile plan launched in South Africa
Netflix launched a new mobile price plan at R49 per month together with a feature it calls “play partial download”.
Aimed specifically at those who only wish to watch Netflix on a mobile device, the new Netflix Mobile plan is available in South Africa at R49 per month.
Subscribing to the mobile plan lets you watch Netflix from a tablet or smartphone, but not a computer or smart TV. It allows a single active standard definition (520p) stream at any given time.
Besides being restricted to mobile devices, Netflix Mobile is a fully-fledged Netflix experience.
You get access to the entire Netflix catalogue available in your country, and you get all the other features that come with existing Netflix plans. These include:
- Up to five different profiles, each with its own PIN
- Maturity settings — to help parents manage what their children can watch
- Smart downloads — automatically download your next episode when you connect to Wi-Fi, delete the ones you’ve already watched
- Adaptive Android UI — optimise the Netflix app for running on entry-level devices with less than 1GB RAM
- Adaptive Bitrate — use less mobile data while streaming, giving up to 6.5 hours on 1GB
“After several months of testing, we’re excited to launch a new mobile plan in South Africa at R49 per month,” a spokesperson for Netflix said.
“This plan will make it even easier for anyone with a smartphone to enjoy Netflix. At home or on the go, now more people can watch all the shows and movies Netflix has to offer, wherever and whenever they want.”
The following table summarises how the Netflix Mobile price plan slots in with the existing Basic, Standard, and Premium plans available on the streaming platform around sub-Saharan Africa.
| Country | Mobile | Basic | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | R49 | R99 | R139 | R169 |
| Nigeria | ₦1,200 | ₦2,900 | ₦3,600 | ₦4,400 |
| Kenya | KSh. 300/- | KSh. 700/- | KSh. 950/- | KSh. 1,200/- |
| Other sub-Saharan countries | $3.99 | $7.99 | $9.99 | $11.99 |
Play partial download
Along with its new mobile price plan, Netflix has introduced a feature it calls “play partial download”.
Subscribers who are downloading a title for offline viewing on an Android phone or tablet will now be able to start watching that episode or movie before the download finishes.
Netflix tested this feature back in July 2020 and found that 35% of new members and 24% of existing members played a partial download at least once.
Those with supported Android devices can access the play partial downloads setting from the download menu, or from the “continue watching” menu.
If you start watching a video that has yet to finish downloading, you will be prompted to download the rest of that movie or episode in a series once your connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network.
Keela Robison, the VP of product innovation at Netflix, said that play partial downloads will be tested on iOS in the coming months.
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