Massive growth for Showmax

Showmax has shown exceptional growth over the past year, increasing its overall customer base by around 1,000%.

“We don’t disclose customer numbers, but to give some size perspective, we’re now streaming billions of minutes on an annualised basis,” Showmax spokesperson Richard Boorman told MyBroadband.

This growth was supported by the service being available on more devices, including Xbox One and PS4 consoles.

In South Africa, the streaming service has also improved its content offering, which includes the launch of original productions.

The original productions included iNumber Number (with Mzansi Magic) and Waterfront (with kykNET).

The first Showmax Original, Tali’s Wedding Diary starring Julia Anastasopoulos, will be added on 14 December.

Boorman said Showmax subscribers can look forward to more original programming and more “first and only on Showmax” top series in 2018.

Still challenges in South Africa

Boorman said the major obstacle holding back more people from adopting Internet TV in South Africa is the cost and availability of uncapped data.

Being billed per megabyte or gigabyte means that users are conscious about their data usage, which makes them hesitant to use video streaming services.

“We’ve been working hard with a number of partners to help solve this issue for customers and are making progress, but if I could wave a wand and fix one thing, it would be this,” said Boorman.

He said they are working on additional partnerships for 2018.