by Thinus Ferreira
eMedia's eVOD video streaming service has reached 800 000 registrations, fuelling South African viewers' transition from linear television to streaming content online.
eMedia launched eVOD in August 2021 and confirms that it has now passed 800 000 registrations two months before its second anniversary.
eMedia isn't saying how many of the 800 000 eVOD activations are currently active but the company is much more open to the industry about the growth of its South African streamer than rivals like MultiChoice's Showmax, The Walt Disney Company Africa's Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.
While the Goliath in the room, Netflix, doesn't break out subscriber numbers for South Africa specifically but reports for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region as a while, Netflix does give an overall subscriber count for this region, which now stands at roughly 77 million subscribers. This is also Netflix's biggest global region in terms of subscriber count.
The South African public broadcaster that launched its SABC+ video streaming service in November 2022is adding roughly 15 000 registrations per day and wants to reach between one and two million subscribers by November 2023.
MultiChoice continues to decline to provide any subscriber numbers for Showmax, as does Disney for Disney+ in South Africa, and Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.
Besides these, there are also a number of much smaller players active in the same space like PCCW's VIU, BritBox, Marquee TV, PrideTV and CineMagic that are not revealing their subscriber numbers for the local market either, with Paramount Global which is still to launch Paramount+ in South Africa and with Warner Bros. Discovery's Max also still non-existent in the country.
eMedia says that eVOD - which continues to add eOriginals ranging from drama series to made-for-TV films - has become "a streaming success story, and is seen as one of the fastest growing, subscription-free, streaming platforms in South Africa".
eVOD currently has a growing slate of 24 locally produced eOriginals: Six TV series and 18 films which have all specifically been commissioned for the streamer, with a new locally-produced title added monthly.
eVOD added a second season of the Splintered Pieces series in April and is set to add Seconds, starring Vusi Kunene, in July.
