Showmax subscriber surge
MultiChoice has reported a 44% increase in Showmax subscribers just over a year after the video streaming service was relaunched, despite withdrawing the service from countries outside Africa.
Showmax 2.0 was rolled out in February 2025 as a joint venture between MultiChoice and Comcast’s NBC Universal, with the former holding a 70% share and the latter the remaining 30%.
In its first year, MultiChoice said the service focused on enhancing its content line-up, bedding down distribution partnerships, expanding payment channel integrations, and refining a go-to-market strategy.
The period was Showmax’s peak investment period, with a step-up in content costs to attract viewers and platform costs to create capacity.
As a result, Showmax’s trading losses expanded roughly 88% from R2.64 billion in the 2024 financial year, when the initial work on the service began, to R4.95 billion.
The service’s revenues also declined from R1.32 billion to R1.05 billion, impacted by higher-than-expected Showmax customer churn and less-than-satisfactory early distribution partnerships.
However, MultiChoice explained that removing the effect of the discontinuation of its Showmax Pro and Showmax Diaspora products leaves organic revenues up 5% year over year.
However, the overall picture should look substantially better going forward, as the platform’s technology-related costs should cool significantly.
MultiChoice said that although Showmax 2.0 has lagged its initial growth targets, it has still delivered healthy growth in active paying subscribers and gained market share in the regional streaming market.
“Although the current levels of broadband and subscription video-on-demand penetration across Africa are not yet at comparable levels to the rest of the world, they suggest significant long-term upside.”
However, MultiChoice said that Internet data pricing would need to evolve further for this market segment to reach its full potential.
“Aside from data costs, macro-economic challenges in markets like Nigeria have impacted short-term pricing and MultiChoice Group,” the company said.
Going big on content
Research by Omdia found that Showmax was already Africa’s biggest video streaming service by customers by the end of 2023.
An analysis by MyBroadband found that its growth may also have seen it leapfrog Netflix in subscribers in South Africa in 2024.
To position Showmax well for competing with the US heavyweights in the future, MultiChoice has spent a lot on attractive content, both in-house and third-party.
In addition to leveraging local content from DStv channels such as Mzansi Magic, KykNet, and Africa Magic, the company produced 82 Showmax Originals, compared with 59 in the previous year.
MultiChoice said its local shows had broken platform records. Standouts included:
- Youngins Season 2 amassing the highest number first-day views and total hours watched.
- Adulting Season 3 recorded the highest day-one acquisitions
- The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip South Africa had the highest unique views for a reality show
- Tracking Thabo Bester topped documentary views.
“These local successes demonstrate our commitment to delivering engaging, high-quality content that resonates with our audiences across Africa,” MultiChoice said.
“On the international side, we secured popular content for our platforms like Dune: Prophecy, House Of The Dragon, The Penguin, White Lotus Season 3, and True Detective: Night Country.”
Another key focus has been Showmax’s Premier League service, which added live streaming of all the South African Premier Soccer League games and streamed elements of the Euro 2024 and Olympics.
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