Naspers is aiming to beat Netflix to a potential audience of over one billion people in Africa.
Quoting the company’s CEO Bob van Dijk, its new on demand service ShowMax, which was launched earlier this month in South Africa, is a priority for Naspers and will be expanded to other parts of the continent.
Although van Dijk declined to provide forecasts, Morgan Stanley expects investment in ShowMax to amount to around $65 billion this year, with the service probably breaking even in 2021 with around 800,000 subscribers.
Naspers is looking into the possibility of partnering with wireless operators over their networks to help expand ShowMax. It will also monitor the rollout of high-speed cable across the continent.
