Malaysian subscription streaming video service iflix, which is focused on emerging markets, has announced the creation of iflix Africa to bring its service to sub-Saharan Africa while taking on the likes of Netflix and Showmax in the region.
The video-on-demand service is planning to launch its service in South Africa during the third quarter of this year, before expanding into other parts of Africa.
The current expansion plan includes the launch of services in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, with iflix Africa taking the company’s global footprint to 23 territories, according to MyBroadband.
Their headquarters in Cape Town will be the launchpad for the company, but the service will not actually be immediately available in South Africa, as iflix will first take on the markets mentioned above.
This could be because of the heavy competition that awaits them in the South African market, with Netflix already present and local powerhouse Showmax, which is owned by Naspers, dominating the South African streaming video scene.
ShowMax has not released their subscriber numbers, but in July 2016 the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service said that they had surpassed more than 10 million “views”, Memeburn reports.
The South African service has since expanded into Africa, and also initiated plans to move into Europe, with a successful expansion into Poland earlier this year.
In March this year iflix announced that it had successfully raised $90 million in funding to assist in its expansion to more global emerging markets, including Africa, according to TechCrunch.
The company is focused on the lower end of the streaming market, and will aim to launch its operations with mobile networks as partners.
Based in Cape Town, iflix will no doubt attempt to enter the South African market at some stage, but their first priority will be to successfully launch in other major sub-Saharan African markets.
“The establishment of iflix Africa represents an incredibly exciting step in iflix’s growth story. There is a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to shift the way a billion people consume and enjoy content,” said iflix CEO, Mark Britt, according to ITNewsAfrica.
“By 2020, Africa will have 720 million smartphone users. We aim to meet the entertainment needs of those growingly connected viewers,” he added.
The Malaysian-based company, which operates in 18 Asian, Middle East and North African markets, claims to have the best of Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood and other regional and local programming, while they will also offer African customers an extensive collection of exclusive African content.
