French broadcaster Canal+ will shut South African video streaming app Showmax as it overhauls services offered by its newly acquired subsidiary MultiChoice.
Launched in 2015, Showmax was an attempt to challenge global streaming giants — such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO — in the battle to reach Africa’s growing middle class by offering locally-made film and TV shows.
Paying Showmax subscribers rose 44% between 2024 and last year, a signal of demand. But the surging inflation, lack of a large base of consumers with high disposable incomes, and low broadband access that have challenged other African streaming services have stifled Showmax’s ambitions. MultiChoice blamed “increased operating costs in Showmax” and a $138 million loss for a 9% fall in the group’s overall trading profit last year.
MultiChoice had operated Showmax in partnership with NBCUniversal since 2024, investing more than $309 million in equity funding into the project to produce content, according to Variety. Showmax, in an email to subscribers, said it will be shuttered “in the near future,” without specifying a timeframe.