MultiChoice has signed a huge streaming deal with Netflix and Amazon to bring these streaming international streaming services to its own unified platform.
The news was unveiled in the company’s annual results presentation for the year ended 31 March 2020. They will be entering into a streaming deal with both Netflix and Amazon to add both services into its upcoming Explora device. The service will be piloted in South Africa initially but it will spread to the rest of Africa later on in the year.
This means DStv customers who own the Explora decoder model will be able to watch Netflix and Amazon Prime Video if they wish to subscribe to them.
Multichoice will need to position the business for the future, leverage the group’s scale, and enhance the product ecosystem by providing access to a wider variety of content, the group recently concluded distribution agreements with two major international Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) providers.
In addition to this deal, MultiChoice provided more information regarding its upcoming DStv Now standalone streaming service.
ALSO READ: DSTV Now set to be a standalone service like Netflix in 2020
In order to get onto the popular streaming bandwagon, Multichoice decided to sign distribution agreements with two major international subscription video-on-demand services. They couldn’t reveal much since they are still in a pre-release embargo period with both of these international players. So they couldn’t go into the specifics until the formal consumer release.
So what happens to ShowMax?
The company has however promised to share more information in the next few weeks, which will include details on how consumers will interface and engage with content from these streaming services. They also confirm that the agreement formed part of a new unified streaming platform MultiChoice would launch that would include content from international players.
Each of the different service providers has very specific content that sits on their platform, and ShowMax content typically doesn’t overlap that much with these other content providers. So the company is trying to is to provide an amount of simplicity, choice, and convenience to subscribers – they can come to one place and can get access to all of this different content.
The move by Multichoice is no different from the broadcast content aggregation they have has been doing for years – this time it is just done via an over-the-top (OTT) streaming platform.
Where does this leave DStv Now?
With over 19.5 million subscribers, it is no surprise that these large international streaming platforms were attracted to partner with MultiChoice and DStv.
Penetrating the African market is not as easy as it seems for these streaming services, especially given our low internet penetration numbers. It seems Multichoice is confident and the agreement with DStv makes a lot of sense to them, too.
According to the financials released in January this year, Netflix has over 52 million from the Africa, MiddleEast, Europe, and Asia (AMEA) region. It also reported stronger-than-expected financials, with revenue of $5.47 billion and earnings per share of $1.30, compared to analyst estimates of $5.45 billion and EPS of 53 cents.
ALSO READ: Netflix enters 2020 with 52 million paid subscribers in AMEA region
But how will all these affect DStv Now? The company will still offer DStv Now. It is not going to go away any time soon, but alongside that, they promised that it has a more slick and more developed component of linear television that represents itself in the streaming product. This means customers will decide for themselves how they want to watch.
