On the eve of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s annual investment summit, Netflix has revealed that it spent more than R2bn on film and TV projects in SA between 2016 and 2022.
On Wednesday, the world’s largest streaming service said it had invested $175m (R3.3bn) in SA, Kenya and Nigeria over the period on content production. Out of this, the lion’s share — $125m (about R2.3bn) — was for SA productions.
Netflix, which hasn’t previously commented on viewership numbers, country and territory subscriber numbers or production spending and licensing content, revealed that in 2021 and 2022 it invested $17bn on original content globally. Consulting firm Accenture previously estimated that 5%-8% of Netflix’s production budget came to Africa, translating to between $850m and $1.36bn. The top of that range is more than one-third of MultiChoice’s market cap.
“SA has been at the forefront of Netflix’s investments in the creative industry since 2016 when we first began our journey in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Shola Sanni, director, public policy for Sub-Saharan Africa at Netflix.
Creative industry
Speaking at an event where the company released its economic report, Sanni said “expanding our business here is good for Netflix, but also good for the creative industry and good for the wider economy in SA”.
She continued: “We believed that SA talent, creators and storytellers had what it takes to compete on the global stage and the investments that Netflix has put into SA and the positive social and economic ripple effects they have had show us that the possibilities are massive.”
Netflix’s report appears to have been timed to coincide with the fifth SA Investment Conference, set for later this week. At the 2022 edition, the entertainment giant pledged R929m for investment up to 2023.
Competition for SA eyeballs has been increasing over the past decade. An area traditionally dominated by MultiChoice has seen growing investment from international players, using the power of the internet to try to appeal to local audiences.
Local content
Netflix’s approach of creating local content in a number of countries where it operates has brought it much success in recent years. Money Heist, a Spanish-language drama series, set viewing records for the platform as global audiences watched it in droves during lockdown. Netflix has experienced similar success with the recent boom in the Korean-language Squid Game.
For rival MultiChoice, the stakes are now higher as Netflix has been focusing its deep pockets on its own local productions such Blood & Water, Queen Sono and How To Ruin Christmas.
The DStv operator’s local content library is now approaching 73,000 hours, representing 48% of total general entertainment content spend.
Netflix said its latest SA production, Unseen, has already been viewed over 24-million times in its first week since release.
While video streaming — Netflix’s speciality — is still small in SA and the rest of Africa, the segment is growing. All SA’s major television broadcasters now offer online viewing options: eMedia with eVOD; MultiChoice owns DStv Now, Showmax and Showmax Pro; and government-run SABC now streams its television and radio content through SABC Plus.
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