Streaming war and African audiences

The race to dominate Africa’s fast-growing streaming market is heating, with global media companies competing for a share of an audience estimated at around 100 million households.

Africa stands out as a major untapped region for subscriber growth, given its young and connected population who are using smartphones more and more and seeking on-demand entertainment.

French media giant Canal+ and Disney+ have presented their latest content slates and plans for their streaming platforms. However, there were some glaring differences in how the two companies approached their offerings for African audiences, with Canal+, albeit with a reduced African content production footprint, still catering to that growing audience.

William Bird, the Media Monitoring Africa director, noted the importance of the growing African market and its abundance of creative talent, insisting that African content ought to continue being produced and sold. He acknowledged the continent’s younger population, around 46% who were under the age of 18. Streaming services would need to rethink how they created content for younger audiences.

“Balancing this demand may prove challenging, particularly as populations in Western Europe and North America continue to age. Above all, it remains essential that African stories are created, produced and told by Africans.

Earlier this week, Canal+ took a major step by listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange after its massive takeover of MultiChoice. The move possibly showed its intention to expand aggressively across the continent and strengthen its influence in African homes.

The takeover had shaken the local media space, announcing the closure of Showmax, which dragged some productions down with it and causing a decline in local production and business.

Maxime Saada, the Canal+ group CEO, said that was a temporary drop that was a result of shutting down the local digital streaming service.

“We will invest very significantly here in South Africa, not only because we have to but because we think the talents and stories are here. We shot a movie last year on How To Make a Killing. We did a lot of great movies with StudioCanal coming from the US and the UK and we are impressed by teams, all of the technical teams were South African,” said Saada.

He announced that they were on Shaka Ilembe season 3 and the follow-up to Spinners. He said most of their streamers come from Africa and believed that as more households accessed electricity, they could secure more subscriptions.

The group has developed a strategy to also merge the DStv app with Canal+ app to spoil consumers with choice.

While the company aims for the African mass, in-house film company StudioCanal, known for producing and distributing international films and television content, has entered into a three-year theatrical distribution partnership with Sun Africa Group as it expands its reach in South Africa.

Disney+’s recent 2026 content slate presentation had a strong focus on productions from the US and the UK, reinforcing the streaming giant’s commitment to some of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises with little emphasis on African storytelling. The platform’s upcoming slate is packed with international offerings. Among the headline announcements were Avatar: Fire and Ash, Marvel’s VisionQuest, X-Men ’97 Season 2, Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi and Camp Rock 3, which sees the Jonas Brothers return to the franchise.

The showcase also highlighted the platform’s growing sports offerings through ESPN, including coverage of the NBA Finals, NFL season, TOP 14 Rugby

Finals, Premier Padel Tour, and the Fiba Women’s Basketball World Cup.

The absence of any major African original programming announcements is notable.

This is especially glaring, as Africa stands out as a major untapped region for subscriber growth, with about 100 million households and a largely young and connected population.

“Storytelling is deeply connected to identity, culture and community. Ensuring authentic African voices remain at the centre of African content will be crucial as the global streaming landscape continues to evolve,” said Bird.

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