Meet the African streaming platform trying to take on Netflix

As content material streaming takes off in Africa, Wi-flix is hoping that its Africa-first strategy to content material manufacturing and distribution will assist it stand its floor in opposition to world streaming giants like Netflix.

Spurred on by a younger inhabitants and rising web connectivity, London-based enterprise intelligence agency, Digital TV Research, initiatives subscriptions of video-on-demand in Africa to attain 15 million by 2026.

For context, this determine stood at 5 million in 2021 . Additionally, revenues from the business are anticipated to triple from the $623 million recorded in 2021 to $2 billion in 2027.

As the race for subscriptions heats up in North America and Europe, progress is slowing down. This has made main streaming suppliers realise the want to divest away from their core markets into rising ones, and Africa represents that subsequent frontier in the streaming wars.

But as they make their approach into the continent, world streaming suppliers mustn’t anticipate indigenous streaming providers, together with the likes of Wi-flix, to lay down and get rolled over.

Having lately launched in Zambia to add to its presence in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, the two-year-old proverbial new child on the block is prepared to convey the battle to streaming incumbents in an business which has recorded regular progress over the previous couple of years and can proceed to for the foreseeable future, in accordance to estimates.

Co-founded by Louis Manu and Bright Yeboah in 2020, Wi-flix mission, in contrast to the like of current platforms like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and even Multichoice’s Showmax, who focus on what Manu calls “top-tier” clientele who contains of higher middle-class earners, Wi-flix’s focus on the various market section who comprise of low-income earners. A Wi-flix subscription prices $2.99 and for context, the most cost-effective Netflix package deal begins at $9.99.

“The play for us is to let the big guys chase the high-income earning customers while we focus on the previously neglected low-income earners who make up about 85% of the African population,” Manu tells TechCabal in an interview.

Despite providing a extra reasonably priced product in contrast to incumbents, Manu provides that the high quality of content material supplied on Wi-flix remains to be premium and properly fitted to an African viewers who, regardless of a steadily rising web and smartphone penetration fee, nonetheless have to take care of one among the costliest web charges in the world.

Creating an enabling atmosphere for content material consumption

In order to take care of the barrier of pricy web which bars low-income customers from consuming content material despite the fact that they need to, Wi-flix has centered on bundling its market enlargement with strategic partnerships which avail information to customers to use the service.

“In Africa, for a month of decent internet, users have to shell out amounts between $50 and even $70. Additionally, they also have to pay between $10 and $50 to subscribe to the streaming platforms. That is a whole lot of money in a continent where household incomes are very low and to address that, we have partnered with network operators in some of our markets to offer data bundles for Wi-flix subscribers,” mentioned Manu.

That rationale has led to strategic partnerships in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria the place it has partnered with Safaricom, Vodafone, and MTN respectively. That technique appears to be working as of March 2022, simply over a 12 months since its inception, Wi-flix reached a million paid subscriptions. For context, Showmax had 861,000 subscriptions at the time regardless of having a five-year headstart on Wi-flix.

“To reach 1 million-plus subscriptions by over 300,000 customers in just a little over a year is a remarkable benchmark for any streaming platform that we don’t take for granted. We have recorded a 51% and 61% growth in revenues and subscriptions simultaneously in the first quarter of 2022,” mentioned Manu at the time.

“We believe in the unbeatable product proposition we offer to our customers and the incredible team of experts we assembled since we launched, however reaching this milestone in this short while affirms that indeed we are on the right track to greater achievements.”

[African] content material is king

Last month, Netflix put out its sub-Saharan socio-economic impression report, purporting to present the impression that the streaming big has had on the continent since its entrance into the market in 2016. In the report, Netflix claims to have supported the creation of over 12,000 jobs and generated $218 million to the GDPs of South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, the place they’re operational.

Additionally, the firm claims to have funded financial exercise which created over $44 million in tax income and a rise of over $200 million in family revenue.

The funding into the creation and distribution of African content material through Netflix originals and different exhibits, the streaming big proceeds, has proven the potential that African content material has on par with the remainder of the world. 

When it comes to the matter of the high quality of African content material, Manu shares the identical sentiments as the competitor.

“In Africa, Nigeria has a lot of filmmakers, Ghana has a lot of filmmakers, Kenya, and South Africa too. But most of the guys, whose content is really high quality, are not able to put their content on big platforms where they can monetise it quite handsomely. All they do is put it on YouTube, or make copies to sell on the streets,” mentioned Manu.

To present an answer to that, Manu states that Wi-flix pays creators for each stream they get, in a form of revenue-sharing mannequin, on high of offering a platform for thousands and thousands of potential shoppers of that content material without spending a dime. Although he wouldn’t share actual figures of how a lot they’ve paid out to content material creators, Manu claims that it’s a vital quantity which has allowed creators on the platform to earn a residing.

“Our revenue sharing model allows us to bridge the gap between content and the value that creators are able to get from it. Not only do we create a platform for creators’ content, but we also ensure that for every stream garnered, our creators are getting paid for it,” added Manu.

To additional facilitate the monetisation of content material, Wi-flix can also be moving into the enterprise of commissioning content material from creators, a method which has to date labored wonders for Netflix with titles like South Africa’s Blood & Water And Nigeria’s Blood Sisters receiving world acclaim.

“We have already started creating our own originals as well as commissioning others through collaborations with other ecosystem players. Some of the originals are already on air and others are in post-production. Additionally, we have set up a post-production studio in Ghana which enables us to polish creators’ content to align with international standards. All in all, under maximum capacity, we are planning to churn out at least a hundred titles a year from the studio,” mentioned Manu.

Playing in the huge boy leagues

Despite having been in operation for underneath three years, Manu states that they don’t think about themselves a “small platform” anymore, speak which is backed by Wi-flix’s spectacular progress trajectory over the previous couple of years.

But with progress and enlargement comes distinctive challenges and Wi-flix isn’t any stranger to these. The first problem, Manu says, is the manufacturing high quality of some content material they obtain.

“African content is great but the issue we face is normally the quality. This is due to the fact that most creators unfortunately have limited budgets so they just do with what they have and most of the time, this does not meet international standards. Our studio in Ghana helps a lot with content cleaning,”

Another problem Manu mentions is the lack of awareness of Wi-flix’s income sharing mannequin by filmmakers and distributors. In most circumstances, creators anticipate to promote their content material to streaming platforms for a lump sum and hold it transferring, with a revenue-sharing mannequin being seen as not so enticing.

“Our value proposition to creators is to say let’s generate traffic for you so you can earn from your work. We make them understand that with our model, your earnings increase as the popularity of your content also surges, unlike with a lump sum model where content can blow up while the creator was given peanuts for it. In some cases, we get pushback from creators about this model but I have to say, over the last few months, the reception to it has been mostly positive,” mentioned Manu.

Only the starting

In August final 12 months, Netflix’s head of African originals, Dorothy Ghettuba, acknowledged that it was the streaming big’s perception that “Africa is one of the major creative centres for great storytelling that resonates around the world, so it only makes sense for us to increase our investment with our slate, with an even more exciting slate.”

Netflix had an estimated 2.6 million subscribers in Africa at the finish of 2021, and the whole quantity is projected to develop to 5.6 million by 2026. Showmax too has proven unwavering perception in the supremacy of African content material and is trying to double down on its manufacturing and distribution.

“Showmax’s audience prefers local content, with seven of the 10 most streamed titles in South Africa, eight of the top 10 titles in Kenya and Nigeria, and nine of the top 10 in Ghana last year being African. This has been a key driver of Showmax’s growth,” mentioned CEO Yolisa Phahle in an interview with Quartz.

Despite the competitors from these well-funded platforms, Manu believes in the supremacy of Wi-flix product choices and believes they are often ready to convey the battle to whoever.

“To us, the increase in competition reaffirms the validity of the industry, which is a good thing. But our product has stood out not because we spent millions in marketing but because of our conscious efforts to really target and fix the real issue on the ground in terms of content production, distribution and availability. We have hit many milestones and achieved traction with that and we are only a few years old. There are so many iterations coming which will improve the appeal of our product and this is only just the beginning,” concluded Manu. 

With African content material and its creators taking centre stage on this new frontier in streaming, platforms like Wi-flix are trying to capitalise on their potential to serve the African market. Intense competitors not solely amongst indigenous and Africa-first platforms in addition to their world counterparts will serve to additional amplify the attain of such content material, a welcome growth.