![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Showmax-with-DStv-Internet-bundle.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne of the biggest reasons for MultiChoice’s financial misery is its misguided strategy to pin its hopes on Showmax for future growth and profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela regularly told the market that Showmax was the company’s future growth engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mawela and other executives were highly bullish on Showmax, pitching it as the key to the group’s survival as traditional satellite TV plateaued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Africa was the final frontier for streaming and said that Showmax would lead the race to dominate the continent with local content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MultiChoice projected that Showmax would reach $1 billion in annual revenue by 2028 and target 16 million active subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is also believed that Showmax would help it reach a combined subscriber base of 50 million users by 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To achieve this goal, it sold a 30% stake in Showmax to Comcast in 2023 and relaunched Showmax 2.0 in early 2024 using the Peacock technology platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The broadcaster pumped billions into the streaming platform and incurred heavy losses in its attempt to gain market share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MultiChoice described the heavy losses as a peak investment cycle that would eventually lead to a break-even point by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the tremendous Showmax subscriber growth projected by the management team never materialised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its trading loss increased from R1.2 billion in 2023 to R2.6 billion in 2024 and R4.9 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On March 5, 2026, MultiChoice and Canal+ announced they would phase out and discontinue Showmax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Management cited substantial annual losses that had become unsustainable as the reason for pulling the plug on the streaming service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highly predictable outcome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/TV-screen-with-Netflix-Disney-Showmax-Amazon-Prime-Video-and-Apple-TV-800x450.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat is most surprising about MultiChoice’s Showmax blunder is that it was a predictable journey. Success was the unlikely outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MultiChoice’s ambitious plans to create a profitable streaming service through J-curve growth and $1 billion in revenue were always unrealistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many other streaming services have tried and failed. This includes CNN+, which was shut down one month after launch because of poor performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even large streaming providers like Disney+, Warner Bros., Discovery, and HBO Max struggle to turn a profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the best examples come right here from South Africa. Numerous top companies launched streaming services, and they all failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MTN launched a streaming service, called FrontRow (Vu), in December 2014. It shut down in May 2017 due to a lack of demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cell C launched its entertainment platform, Black, in November 2017, but pulled the plug on the service in November 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vodacom launched its streaming service Video Play in August 2015. It discontinued the service in June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Telkom launched TelkomONE in November 2020, offering a range of free content, including SABC channels and news, as well as paid-for movies and TV shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It canned the project within two years and handed over its platform to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on 17 November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were also many other failures, including the Altech Node, Times Media Group’s Vidi, OnTapTV, and Econet’s Kwes\u00e9 Play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Considering the tremendous global competition and graveyard of local services, it is difficult to understand why MultiChoice thought Showmax would be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It looks like a case of the management team saying “hold my beer”, thinking they would prove everyone else was not competent and that they would show them the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unsurprisingly, Showmax went the same way as all the other video streaming services in South Africa that failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\nService<\/strong><\/td>Operator<\/strong><\/td>Launched<\/strong><\/td>Closed Down<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Node<\/td> Altech<\/td> September 2014<\/td> September 2015<\/td><\/tr> Vu<\/td> MTN<\/td> December 2014<\/td> May 2017<\/td><\/tr> Kwes\u00e9 Play<\/td> Econet<\/td> September 2017<\/td> August 2019<\/td><\/tr> Black<\/td> Cell C<\/td> November 2017<\/td> November 2019<\/td><\/tr> Video Play<\/td> Vodacom<\/td> August 2015<\/td> June 2022<\/td><\/tr> TelkomONE<\/td> Telkom<\/td> November 2020<\/td> November 2022<\/td><\/tr> Showmax<\/td> MultiChoice<\/td> August 2015<\/td> Soon<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MultiChoice\u2019s decision to bet the farm on Showmax and pin the company’s hopes on the streaming service was misguided and ill-informed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":569667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1295,21383,355,85,42,475,34409,32140,109,41],"class_list":["post-632966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-altech","tag-canal","tag-cell-c","tag-dstv","tag-mtn","tag-multichoice","tag-ontaptv","tag-showmax","tag-telkom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632980,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632966\/revisions\/632980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat is most surprising about MultiChoice’s Showmax blunder is that it was a predictable journey. Success was the unlikely outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MultiChoice’s ambitious plans to create a profitable streaming service through J-curve growth and $1 billion in revenue were always unrealistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many other streaming services have tried and failed. This includes CNN+, which was shut down one month after launch because of poor performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even large streaming providers like Disney+, Warner Bros., Discovery, and HBO Max struggle to turn a profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the best examples come right here from South Africa. Numerous top companies launched streaming services, and they all failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MTN launched a streaming service, called FrontRow (Vu), in December 2014. It shut down in May 2017 due to a lack of demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cell C launched its entertainment platform, Black, in November 2017, but pulled the plug on the service in November 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vodacom launched its streaming service Video Play in August 2015. It discontinued the service in June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Telkom launched TelkomONE in November 2020, offering a range of free content, including SABC channels and news, as well as paid-for movies and TV shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It canned the project within two years and handed over its platform to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on 17 November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were also many other failures, including the Altech Node, Times Media Group’s Vidi, OnTapTV, and Econet’s Kwes\u00e9 Play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Considering the tremendous global competition and graveyard of local services, it is difficult to understand why MultiChoice thought Showmax would be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It looks like a case of the management team saying “hold my beer”, thinking they would prove everyone else was not competent and that they would show them the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unsurprisingly, Showmax went the same way as all the other video streaming services in South Africa that failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MultiChoice\u2019s decision to bet the farm on Showmax and pin the company’s hopes on the streaming service was misguided and ill-informed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":569667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1295,21383,355,85,42,475,34409,32140,109,41],"class_list":["post-632966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-altech","tag-canal","tag-cell-c","tag-dstv","tag-mtn","tag-multichoice","tag-ontaptv","tag-showmax","tag-telkom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632980,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632966\/revisions\/632980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Service<\/strong><\/td> Operator<\/strong><\/td> Launched<\/strong><\/td> Closed Down<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> Node<\/td> Altech<\/td> September 2014<\/td> September 2015<\/td><\/tr> Vu<\/td> MTN<\/td> December 2014<\/td> May 2017<\/td><\/tr> Kwes\u00e9 Play<\/td> Econet<\/td> September 2017<\/td> August 2019<\/td><\/tr> Black<\/td> Cell C<\/td> November 2017<\/td> November 2019<\/td><\/tr> Video Play<\/td> Vodacom<\/td> August 2015<\/td> June 2022<\/td><\/tr> TelkomONE<\/td> Telkom<\/td> November 2020<\/td> November 2022<\/td><\/tr> Showmax<\/td> MultiChoice<\/td> August 2015<\/td> Soon<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"