For years, streaming has been seen as the inevitable future of television. Across the world, media companies have been racing to capture audiences shifting away from traditional broadcasting toward on-demand digital platforms. In that global race, Africa appeared to represent the next major growth frontier.


The continent’s young population, growing smartphone adoption, and increasing reliance on mobile internet created the impression that millions of viewers would eventually move from satellite television to streaming platforms as connectivity improved.


For MultiChoice, the company behind DStv and GOtv, Showmax was intended to capture that opportunity.


More than a decade after launching the platform as an African competitor to Netflix, that ambition is now being reconsidered. Following the takeover of MultiChoice by Canal+, the company has begun restructuring its streaming strategy, a move that has effectively brought the Showmax experiment to an end.


The financial records behind the platform help explain the decision. Between 2023 and 2025, Showmax generated $204.29 million in revenue while recording more than $523.53 million in operating losses. In simple terms, the platform lost roughly $2.50 for every $1 it earned.


The numbers reveal how the investment unfolded.


Funding the Showmax Relaunch


In 2023, MultiChoice partnered with Comcast’s NBCUniversal to rebuild Showmax and position it for a broader continental rollout.


The partnership resulted in the creation of Showmax Africa Holdings Limited, a new entity incorporated in the United Kingdom to oversee the platform’s African operations.


As part of the agreement, NBCUniversal acquired a 30 percent stake in the company for $29 million, equivalent to ZAR536 million.


Additional funding followed over the next two years. Showmax received an extra $36 million in 2024 and another $85 million in 2025. These investments were designed to provide working capital and support the relaunch of the streaming service.



A Major Technology Commitment


One of the platform’s largest expenses was a seven-year technology licensing agreement with NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming platform.


Signed in 2024, the deal was valued at ZAR6.8 billion, or about $405 million.


Instead of building a streaming infrastructure from scratch, Showmax licensed Peacock’s technology stack to power its operations. The agreement provided access to the platform’s core systems, including its streaming infrastructure, recommendation engines, product engineering framework, and overall platform architecture.


By March 2025, Showmax had already spent $59.56 million under the agreement, with $345.44 million still scheduled to be paid over the remaining six years.


Heavy Spending on Content and Operations


Technology was only part of the investment strategy. Showmax also significantly expanded its content production and operational footprint.


The platform increased the number of African original productions available to subscribers. By 2024, it had released 59 original films, and that number rose to 82 by 2025.


Across 2024 and 2025, spending was distributed across several major categories. Content production and licensing cost ZAR3.95 billion, equivalent to $235.26 million. Staff costs reached ZAR1.04 billion, or $61.64 million. Sales and marketing activities accounted for ZAR1.21 billion, approximately $72.19 million. Miscellaneous operational expenses added another ZAR3.71 billion, about $221.14 million.


Together, these investments were meant to strengthen Showmax’s competitive position through locally produced content and expanded distribution.



Revenue That Could Not Match the Costs


Despite the large financial outlay, revenue growth remained relatively modest.


Between 2023 and 2025, Showmax generated total revenue of ZAR3.43 billion, or $204.29 million. Subscription revenue accounted for ZAR2.44 billion, equivalent to $145.35 million.


Revenue peaked in 2024, the year the platform relaunched with a redesigned streaming service, expanded sports content, and a larger catalogue of African productions.


MultiChoice reported that paying subscribers grew by 44 percent during that period. The company also expanded the platform beyond its core markets in South Africa and Nigeria into countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia through partnerships with telecommunications providers.


These partnerships often bundled Showmax subscriptions with mobile data plans to make the service more accessible.


Mounting Operating Losses


Even with subscriber growth, the platform’s expenses far exceeded its revenue.


Between 2023 and 2025, Showmax recorded operating losses totaling ZAR8.79 billion, or $523.53 million.


The losses were particularly large in 2025, which MultiChoice described as the platform’s peak investment year.


As a start-up business, Showmax focused on enhancing its content line-up, bedding down distribution partnerships, expanding payment channel integrations and refining its go-to-market strategy, the company said in 2025.


As FY25 was the peak investment year, reflected by a step-up in content costs to attract viewers and platform costs to create capacity, trading losses increased by 88% YoY.


Read More: Showmax Faces Headwinds as Canal+ Shifts Focus to Profitability


The Long-Term Strategy Behind the Investment


Showmax’s heavy spending was part of a broader long-term strategy built around Africa’s expected streaming growth.


In May 2023, MultiChoice told investors that it aimed to generate $1 billion in annual revenue from Showmax within five years and reach profitability by 2027.


The strategy depended on expanding African original content, strengthening partnerships with telecom operators and payment providers, and scaling the platform using Peacock’s streaming technology.


MultiChoice also planned to increase the number of Showmax original productions tenfold by 2033, betting that demand for African stories would continue to grow as the continent’s digital entertainment market matured.


It remains clear that streaming represents the future of video entertainment, the company said in 2025.


Although the current levels of broadband and SVOD penetration across Africa are not yet at comparable levels to the rest of the world, they suggest significant long-term upside. However, data pricing would need to evolve further for this market segment to reach its full potential.


The Broader Lesson for the Streaming Industry


The Showmax story highlights the financial challenges involved in building a streaming platform, particularly in emerging markets.


Streaming services require enormous investment in technology, content production, marketing, and distribution before they can reach profitability. In Africa, those challenges are amplified by lower subscription purchasing power and limited broadband access in many regions.


Global streaming companies have already begun adjusting their expectations for the continent. Netflix has reduced production budgets in Nigeria, while Amazon Prime Video shut down its African operations in 2024.


Streaming remains central to MultiChoice’s future strategy, but the financial performance of Showmax appears to have convinced Canal+ to rethink how that strategy should be executed.


The experience serves as a reminder that while Africa’s streaming market still holds long-term potential, the path to profitability may take longer and cost far more than many companies initially expected.