by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa will definitely also get discovery+, the video streaming service of Discovery Inc. which is not yet available in the country, and it will happen through Warner Bros. Discovery combining its existing separate HBO Max and discovery+ streaming services into one streamer.
WarnerMedia that is fast expanding its streaming service HBO Max across Europe is already on record that it wants to expand HBO Max all over the globe, similar to Netflix and The Walt Disney Company's Disney+ that will arrive in South Africa anytime from June this year.
Since Discovery Inc. has not said anything about a planned rollout for its discovery+ for South Africa or Africa specifically, it has meant that viewers have been kept in the dark until now about whether they would ever get access to it and the additional content on the streamer like the expanded 90 Day Fiancé franchise, even more shows from Animal Planet, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, the Discovery Channel and other discovery+ Originals.
Now, with Warner Bros. Discovery announcing that it will combine HBO Max and discovery+ in international markets - possibly in the way that Disney+ has different branded tiles incorporating National Geographic, Marvel, Disney, Star, Star Wars and Pixar - and with HBO Max that will definitely launch in South Africa, it means that South Africans will get access to discovery+.
Gunnar Wiedenfels, Discovery CFO, who will also serve as CFO of the combined Warner Bros. Discovery, revealed at the Deutsche Bank 30th Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference during a webcast that Warner Bros. Discovery is planning and already busy with preparations to combine HBO Max and discovery+.
Following the merger within a month of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. into Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO Max and discovery+ will initially be bundled together, but the two services will eventually be merged into one streaming service.
"We believe that the breadth and depth of this content offering is going to be a phenomenal consumer value proposition," Gunnar Wiedenfels said.
"The question is, in order to get to that point and do it in a way that's actually a great user experience for our subscribers - that's going to take some time."
"Again, that's nothing that's going to happen in weeks - hopefully not in years, but in several months, and we will start working on an interim solution in the meantime."
"So right out of the gate, we're working on getting the bundling approach ready, maybe a single sign-on, maybe ingesting content into the other product, so that we can start to get some benefits early on."
"But the main thrust is going to be harmonising the technology platform - building one very, very strong combined direct-to-consumer (DTC) product and platform - that's going to take a while."
One of the 'most complete' streamers
Gunnar Wiedenfels said that "One of the most important items here is that we believe in a combined product as opposed to a bundle".
"The combination could not make more sense than what we're doing here. We have HBO Max, with a more premium, male-skewing positioning, and then you've got the female-positioning on the Discovery side."
"You've got the daily engagement that people enjoy with Discovery content versus sort of the event-driven nature of the HBO Max content."
"Take that together, I have no doubt that we will be creating one of the most complete, sort of four-quadrant, old-young, male-female products out there."
"I'm really excited about it. I can't wait to see the first combined direct-to-consumer metrics because, in theory, the acquisition power of HBO Max, combined with the retention power of the Discovery content, I think is going to make for a blowout DTC product - and that should certainly drive very healthy revenue growth for years to come."
Once HBO Max and dicovery+ launch as a combined video streamer in South Africa as a standalone service, it could possibly also be carried by MultiChoice on its DStv Explora Ultra that has Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Sky in the United Kingdom and Europe already made multiple partnership deals to carry streamers ranging from Disney+ to SkyShowtime, Paramount+, discovery+ and several others.
Paramount's Paramount+ streamer is set to launch in South Africa early in 2023.
The South African public broadcaster that was supposed to launch its own video streaming service before the end of this month, modelled after the BBC's iPlayer, has moved its launch out to the third quarter of this year, meaning to somewhere around July to September.