CASE STUDY
Showmax
Helping a streaming partnership re-launch their platform across Africa
Challenge
Showmax, a joint venture between South African broadcaster MultiChoice Group, Comcast and NBCUniversal, aimed to relaunch its streaming service across multiple African markets. To succeed, Showmax needed a comprehensive strategy that addressed Africa’s unique market dynamics, including its burgeoning youth population and strong demand for local content. The partnership needed to expand regional and international programming and sports like the English Premier League, while offering affordable, mobile-friendly plans that leveraged advanced streaming technology.
Solutions
Our goal was to support Showmax’s leadership in organizing the launch program and managing relationships with many partners. This involved delivering market-backed insights and identifying risks to inform the optimal timing and strategy for launching in each key territory.
We began with extensive research, focusing on content preferences, product features, payment journey and marketing factors. Collaborating with local stakeholders, we conducted data analysis and identified strategic priorities and presented these findings to C-suite decision-makers and regional leaders.
By combining quantitative data on viewing habits with qualitative insights from local market intelligence, we provided a holistic, market-by-market view of the key success factors. This framework helped the launch teams set clear priorities, define clear targets and develop actionable strategies.
In addition to establishing launch-team rituals and managing the end-to-end roadmap for the February marketing debut, Prophet created a robust assessment framework for ongoing market analysis and adaption.
Results
Prophet has delivered this approach in four major African markets – South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania – with a view to continuing this go-to-market expansion work across the rest of the continent.
By the end of the launch quarter, Showmax achieved significant milestones, relaunching across 44 markets in sub-Saharan Africa. Showmax migrated almost 100% of the eligible customer base to the new Showmax platform, and 88% of those migrated had reactivated their accounts in the seven weeks to year-end. Showmax enjoyed record growth in the month of March 2024.
The launch also introduced a range of successful payment types and bundles tailored to different user groups in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
This strategic entry enhanced Showmax’s market visibility and effectively positioned it against competitors like Netflix and Disney.
“Prophet and Showmax share a common belief in the critical role of audience-centricity. This meant we had the insights we needed to build a holistic launch strategy focused on innovative content development, relevant bundles and user-friendly payment. These frameworks will help us further differentiate our approach to winning audiences and powering our growth in each of our African markets .”
Nazeer Wadee
Chief Financial Officer