South Africa is a strong example of a market in which one company, MultiChoice, dominates, even despite the recent launch of Disney+. The varying releases on their services all owned by MultiChoice highlight the decisions companies are currently facing when it comes to windowing strategies.
In South Africa, Show Tracker reveals that MultiChoice is getting a majority of First Windows of First Season premieres of US, UK, and US/UK TV show co-productions, with them acquiring 59% and 60% of all of these First Windows in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons, respectively. The main other player here is Disney+, who acquired 19% of TV series in 2021/22 before jumping up to 33% in 2022/23, with the studio’s all-in vertical integration strategy making it one of MultiChoice’s strongest competitors in terms of premieres.
As well as offering a suite of M-Net Pay TV channels under the operator DStv, MultiChoice also operate their own SVOD Showmax, with acquisitions potentially ended up on either (or both) types of service. In the 2021/22 season, nearly 60% of MultiChoice acquisitions went to M-Net while 42% went to Showmax. This flipped in the 2022/23 season when only 39% went to M-Net while 61% to Showmax.
Showmax however is set to be shaken up further by MultiChoice’s new partnership with NBCUniversal, with the studio taking a 30% share of a new version of the SVOD and supporting it with Peacock technology. MultiChoice may therefore be pressured to further prioritise the SVOD over its own channels down the line.
When it comes to the movie licensing market, 3Vision’s new Movie Tracker service reveals that MultiChoice also dominates in the movie market as well. They acquired most of the first windows for films from all major studios in 2022, including seven of Paramount’s nine first windows in South Africa, and all four of Warner Bros. Discovery’s too.
MultiChoice’s long held dominance in South Africa on the acquisition market has obviously relied on a steady supply of content from the major studios. Unlike in other markets where the likes of Warner, Paramount and NBCUniversal have launched their own SVOD services, MultiChoice has been spared the market shift towards vertical integration for now.
By bringing the likes of NBCUniversal into the fold with its new Showmax partnership, MultiChoice not only helps secure their place as the home for nearly all US content, but will hopefully jumpstart the technology powering their own SVOD too.
.svg)
