Netflix recently announced price hikes in the US. Fortunately, South Africans who pay for the service in dollars were spared from the increase.
A Netflix Standard subscription increased from $9.99 to $10.99. Netflix Premium, which includes UHD access, increased from $11.99 to $13.99.
But at $9.99 for the standard subscription in South Africa, is Netflix a good deal compared to competing services?
Content
JustWatch, a service which specialises in detailing films and series available in a country, lists the number of titles that Netflix, Showmax, and Amazon have in South Africa.
A comparison of the titles across the services from a MyBroadband report in December 2016 shows that Netflix and Prime Video have grown tremendously in the past year.
In recent months, Amazon Prime Video’s titles grew from 255 to 1,009 – a 296% increase. Netflix has grown from 1,417 to 2,660 titles – an 88% increase.
Showmax is listed on JustWatch as having 587 titles. However, Showmax told MyBroadband it has over 1,000 titles on the platform – counting films and the seasons of every show.
JustWatch was asked how it calculates the number of titles for each service, but did not respond.
A comparison of the services, and their SA pricing and content libraries, is shown below.
| Streaming Services | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service | Price | Titles | Quality | Screens |
| Amazon Prime Video | $5.99 p/m | 1,009 | UHD | 3 |
| Showmax | R99 p/m | 587 (Over 1,000) * | 720p | 2 |
| Netflix Basic | $7.99 p/m | 2,660 | SD | 1 |
| Netflix Standard | $9.99 p/m | 2,660 | HD (1080p) | 2 |
| Netflix Premium | $11.99 p/m | 2,660 | UHD | 4 |
| *Showmax said it is unsure how JustWatch calculates its title count. It has over 1,000 titles on the platform. | ||||
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Is it just me or does it not feel like there are 2,660 titles available. I scroll for less than a minute before tiles start repeating.