Netflix taps Canal+ to regain ground in Africa’s streaming wars

Netflix’s Canal+ deal signals a pivot from platform dominance to partnership, unlocking scale and local reach in Africa’s competitive streaming market. As Showmax surges ahead, collaboration may be Netflix’s best shot at regaining ground.

By Bonface Orucho

Netflix’s new bundling deal with French media giant Vivendi SE’s Canal+ is a strategic play to boost its African subscriber base as competition intensifies—particularly from homegrown platforms like MultiChoice-owned Showmax.

The deal, which integrates Netflix into Canal+’s pay-TV offering across 24 Francophone African markets, will allow the U.S. streaming leader to bypass longstanding hurdles around broadband access, payment friction, and brand visibility—while gaining instant reach via Canal+’s 8 million subscriber network.

According to industry experts, the deal means not just a more streamlined user experience for Canal+ subscribers, who will access the Netflix platform via their existing subscription without the need for a new log-in, but also the potential for Netflix to invest more in productions from the region.

“If the numbers work out, this could very well motivate Netflix to put more money into local content from the region,” according to Marie Lora-Mungai, a media entrepreneur and investor in Africa’s creative industries.

“Adding Netflix to 400+ linear channels (including 28 African ones) and its own VOD catalogue positions the group (Canal+) as the one-stop content gateway on the continent—just as Canal+ is getting ready to absorb Multichoice,” she added.

For years, Netflix, Prime Video, Showmax, and iROKOtv have vied for dominance in Africa’s nascent digital TV and video-on-demand streaming markets, which have high potential.

Africa had just over 5 million subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) users in 2023, but that figure is projected to triple to 15 million by 2029, according to Digital TV Research.

Still, the terrain is unforgiving. Telco-led platforms like MTN’s VU and Vodacom’s Video Play have already folded, stifled by high data costs, low ARPU, and insufficient local content.

Since 2016, Netflix has invested over US$175 million in Africa—US$125 million of that in South Africa alone, supporting more than 7,000 jobs and contributing US$178 million to GDP, according to company data. Nigeria received over US$23 million, generating more than 5,000 jobs.

But even with these figures, Netflix has struggled to overtake regional rivals. By late 2023, MultiChoice-owned Showmax had pulled ahead, commanding an estimated 39% market share compared to Netflix’s 33.5%, according to Omdia, a technology research and advisory group.

That translates to about 2.1 million subscribers for Showmax, versus Netflix’s 1.8 million.

Netflix’s mobile-only plans average US$6.75/month, while Showmax’s entry-level offers start around US$4.83, with data-efficient features and language-localised interfaces like its recent Kiswahili rollout targeting over 230 million speakers across East Africa.

Against this backdrop, Netflix’s decision to bundle with Canal+ is no small move. The French pay-TV group has over 8 million subscribers across Francophone Africa, a powerful springboard for Netflix into harder-to-penetrate markets.

The partnership offers subscribers seamless access through Canal+’s set-top boxes and integrated billing systems—solving Netflix’s persistent pain points around mobile data costs, digital payments, and device fragmentation.

Crucially, it also gives Netflix proximity to Canal+’s local content pipelines. Canal+ has built strong ties with regional studios like Marodi TV in Senegal (which broadcasts in the Wolof language) and Arewa24 in Nigeria (which prioritises the Hausa language). These networks offer rich creative ecosystems that Netflix may now tap into more systematically.

This partnership comes as Canal+ itself is expanding its influence. The company currently owns just over 45% of MultiChoice, Africa’s largest pay-TV operator and owner of Showmax and DStv.

In early 2024, Canal+ launched a US$1.96 billion bid to acquire the MultiChoice shares. South Africa’s Competition Commission conditionally approved the deal in May 2025, with a final decision expected by October.

If successful, Canal+ will control a bilingual content and distribution empire—uniting Francophone and Anglophone Africa under one umbrella and reinforcing its position as Africa’s most powerful content aggregator.

This could mark a turning point for Netflix. After years of aggressive expansion, the platform is now retrenching globally.

In 2023, Netflix cut 16% of its original content slate, shifting from “volume to value,” according to an AInvest analysis. Amazon Prime Video has followed suit, recently pausing local content development across several African markets.

For Netflix, collaboration may be the clearest path forward. The Canal+ bundling model allows it to stay relevant, local, and cost-effective in markets where direct dominance remains elusive.

According to Blessing Waweru, a film and theatre studies educator at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, the bundling model carries notable risks.

“Bundling can dilute platform identities, making it harder for viewers to distinguish Netflix’s brand. It also risks creating content silos if libraries across services aren’t properly integrated,” said Waweru, the former head of strategy at Protel Studios.

“And new challengers—like Nollyland, IBAKATV, and various freemium telco platforms—are still pushing in.”

Still, the signs of a regional realignment are clear. Africa’s streaming future will be hybrid, collaborative, and deeply rooted in local culture.

According to Waweru, the collaboration is an “exciting development” for the ecosystem.

“It means the next African breakout series might not come from Johannesburg or Lagos, but from a modest studio in Dakar, produced in Wolof, and streamed to millions via a French-owned satellite box—backed by a U.S. tech giant.”

bird story agency