Showmax is gone. Today, April 30, 2026 – just like we told you – the streaming service that many hoped would become “Africa’s Netflix” officially shut down for good. No new sign-ups were allowed after March 31. Existing users could keep watching until their subscriptions ran out or the service was completely switched off.
Some of the shows are moving over to the simpler DStv Stream app, but the standalone Showmax platform is finished.
MultiChoice, the South African pay-TV giant now owned by France’s Canal+, made the final decision in early March. After looking at everything, they said the “substantial annual losses” were simply “unsustainable.” In plain language: they were losing too much money, and the new owners refused to keep funding it.So what exactly went wrong? It wasn’t one single mistake. It was a long list of problems that added up over 11 years.
Let’s walk through the full story, step by step.
The dream begins in 2015
MultiChoice launched Showmax in 2015. Netflix was growing fast around the world, and Africa had more smartphones and young people who wanted good stories. Showmax wanted to be the home-grown champion. It mixed African movies, series, live sports, and some popular international titles. The service spread to more than 40 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the beginning, it grew nicely. By late 2023, it had crossed two million paying subscribers and was even beating Netflix in some African markets. People enjoyed the local touch – stories set in African cities, with African actors and real African experiences that big global services often missed.
But growth was never the real problem. From the very first year, Showmax never made any profit. It always spent far more money than it earned from customers.
The 2024 Relaunch
In 2023, MultiChoice decided to try a big fix. They partnered with America’s NBCUniversal (the company behind Peacock) and sold them a 30% share in Showmax. Together, they invested around $177 million to rebuild the entire service from the ground up.
The new Showmax launched in February 2024. It had a completely new app, cleaner design, and three different price plans – including a cheap mobile-only option for people who only used their phones. Picture quality improved. There was more sports and more original African shows.
On paper, it looked like a smart move. MultiChoice even said they wanted to reach one billion dollars in yearly revenue within five years. But the costs kept climbing. They had to pay NBCUniversal large licensing fees every three months, no matter how many people actually signed up. They also spent heavily to adapt the American Peacock technology to work in Africa.
The relaunch did bring in more users. Paying subscribers grew by 44% in the 2025 financial year. Yet the losses grew much faster than the revenue.
The numbers that killed the business
This is where the story becomes painful. Here are the actual losses:
- 2023: UGX 270 billion lost
- 2024: UGX 584 billion lost
- 2025 (their biggest investment year): UGX 1.1 trillion lost
In just three years, the total losses reached roughly UGX 2 trillion. Some reports put the full historical losses above UGX 2.3 trillion. In the final full year, Showmax made only UGX 169 billion in revenue but lost nearly seven times that amount.
For every rand a customer paid, the company was spending more than six rand. That kind of math cannot continue for long.
Why was it so expensive? Buying content rights became more and more costly every year. Big sports deals were extremely pricey. The new technology platform was built for fast American internet and higher incomes, but Africa has slow connections, expensive data, and frequent power cuts. Many people think twice before spending money on streaming. The system simply did not match the reality on the ground.
Tough market, tough competition
Africa is a difficult place for pure subscription streaming. Families often share one phone. Data is expensive in many countries. Power outages are common in places like South Africa, and currencies crash in others like Nigeria. Piracy is everywhere – why pay monthly when you can watch the same shows for free?
Showmax also competed against Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, and many smaller local apps. At its best, it held about 39% of the African streaming market, but that share still wasn’t enough to cover the huge costs.
Some people also criticised the content choices. Early original shows like Blood Psalms felt fresh and ambitious. Later on, there seemed to be more reality television – Real Housewives versions and polygamy dramas. While these were cheaper to make, they sometimes felt less special and less different from what other platforms were already offering.
New owners, new rules
In September 2025, Canal+ completed its purchase of MultiChoice in a deal worth around $2 billion. Canal+ is a traditional pay-TV company that operates across Africa and Europe. They prefer to bundle streamers like Netflix inside their own apps instead of fighting them directly as a standalone service.
To the new French owners, Showmax looked like an expensive failure. It had been built to compete head-on with Netflix, not to work together with it. Canal+ wanted quick profits and tighter control over spending. After a short review, they decided to close Showmax. There were no staff layoffs – everyone received support to move to other roles – but the platform itself had to end.
The human and cultural cost
The shutdown affects more than just money. African filmmakers and producers lost an important buyer that was willing to take risks on local stories. Series such as Spinners, Catch Me a Killer, and Khaki Fever might never have been made without Showmax money. Many creators now worry that the new owners will be more careful and buy fewer bold African originals.
Viewers in smaller countries also lose easy access to stories made specifically for them. Once again, the dream of a big, successful, home-grown African streaming giant fades away. Other local services have tried before and faced similar struggles. The clear message is that the pure subscription model is extremely difficult to make work in Africa.
Lessons from the failure
Showmax’s story is not just bad luck. It shows the limits of trying to copy the Western streaming model in Africa. You cannot spend American-level money on technology and content while charging prices that match African pockets. Growing the number of subscribers is good, but if every new customer costs you more than they bring in, the business cannot survive.
Canal+ is now moving some content into DStv Stream and focusing on what they do best: pay-TV bundles and keeping costs under control. Whether this approach will still leave space for brave African storytelling is something we will have to watch.
