The impact of Netflix expansion across the continent is expected to be huge at least from the point of view of analysts and observers. Local competitors in Africa share a somewhat different view and are upbeat about the impact it might have on their business. Reuters reports that Naspers, the largest listed company in Africa, said it was not worried about Netflix’s arrival in South Africa, adding it believed the market for video on demand was large enough to accommodate more players. Here is what their spokesperson Richard Boorman, said as reported by Reuters;
“It’s good news that we have another major player in the market who’ll generate additional interest in internet TV,”
Naspers is the owners of Multichoice DSTV and is a global platform operator with principal operations in internet services, especially ecommerce (i.e. classifieds, online retail, marketplaces, online comparison shopping, payments and online services); Video Entertainment (direct-to-home satellite services, digital terrestrial television services and online services) and print media.
Naspers last August launched its own on demand pay tv called Showmax which also streams movies, series and TV shows via the internet in exchange for subscriptions. It is a similar model used by Netflix. Naspers share price was down (3.95%) whilst Netflix gained 9% on Wednesday. Naspers is worth about 856 billion rand ($53 billion) compared to Netflix market cap of $50.2 billion.
