Netflix turns to telecoms tie-ups in challenging African markets
Netflix turns to telecoms tie-ups in challenging African markets
By Duncan Miriri
NAIROBI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Netflix Inc is showing more African-made content and working with telecoms operators to make it easier for potential subscribers to make payments, a senior executive told Reuters ahead of its third-quarter results on Tuesday.
The online content streaming giant, which has 193 million subscribers globally, is keen to expand in Africa and is seeking ways to overcome challenges including slow and expensive internet and the lack of proper payments infrastructure in the 55-nation continent.
"Given the low credit card penetration across the continent ... we have partnered with local telcos ... for their customers to be able to add Netflix subscriptions to their bills," said Netflix's head of original programming for Africa, Dorothy Ghettuba.
She said they already have partnerships with Vodacom and Telkom South Africa , adding that Netflix is looking for further tie-ups.
Expensive high-speed internet in some countries is also a key challenge, Ghettuba said, adding that Netflix is trying to address that by allowing wi-fi downloads for later viewing rather than use pricey mobile data for streaming.
Netflix, well established in South Africa and Nigeria, is now looking towards the Kenyan market, Ghettuba said.
The pay TV market in Africa is dominated by South Africa's Multichoice Group , which has an edge over Netflix from its dozens of channels dedicated to news and live sports events.
The South African group, in addition to its entertainment channels showing films, series and documentaries, has also started online streaming service Showmax to compete directly with Netflix.
To improve its appeal in the market, Netflix has been boosting its library with African productions.
"The business is excited about Africa and is putting every effort behind it," said Ghettuba, who joined Netflix last year after a decade running a Kenyan production house.
Ghettuba declined to specify the value of Netflix's investments in Africa, but the company has agreed a slew of content-licensing deals with African producers in markets including Senegal, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique.
(Editing by Katharine Houreld and David Goodman)
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鄧肯·米里裏(Duncan Miriri)著內羅畢，10月20日(路透社)-奈飛在週二公佈第三季度業績之前告訴路透社，該公司正在展示更多非洲製造的內容，並與電信運營商合作，使潛在訂户更容易付款。這家在全球擁有1.93億訂户的在線內容流媒體巨頭熱衷於在非洲擴張，並正在想方設法克服挑戰，包括互聯網速度慢、成本高，以及這個擁有55個國家的大陸缺乏適當的支付基礎設施。Netflix非洲原創節目負責人多蘿西·蓋圖巴(Dorothy Ghettuba)表示：“鑑於整個非洲的信用卡普及率較低……我們已經與當地電信公司合作……讓他們的客户能夠將Netflix訂閲加入他們的賬單中，”Netflix非洲原創節目主管多蘿西·蓋圖巴(Dorothy Ghettuba)表示。她説，他們已經與沃達康(Vodacom)和南非電信(Telkom South)建立了合作伙伴關係，並補充説，Netflix正在尋找進一步的合作。Ghettuba説，一些國家昂貴的高速互聯網也是一個關鍵挑戰，他補充説，Netflix正試圖通過允許wi-fi下載稍後觀看來解決這個問題，而不是使用昂貴的移動數據進行流媒體。Ghettuba説，Netflix在南非和尼日利亞建立了良好的基礎，現在正將目光投向肯尼亞市場。非洲的付費電視市場由南非的多選集團(MultiChoose Group)主導，該集團擁有數十個專注於新聞和體育賽事直播的頻道，因此比Netflix更具優勢。除了播放電影、連續劇和紀錄片的娛樂頻道外，這家南非集團還推出了在線流媒體服務Showmax，與Netflix直接競爭。為了提高其在市場上的吸引力，Netflix一直在用非洲製作的作品來提升其資料庫。Ghettuba在經營一家肯尼亞製片公司十年後，於去年加入Netflix，他説：“這家公司對非洲感到興奮，並正在盡一切努力支持它。”Ghettuba拒絕透露Netflix在非洲的投資價值，但該公司已與塞內加爾、加納、津巴布韋、安哥拉和莫桑比克等市場的非洲製片人達成了一系列內容許可協議。(編輯：Katharine Houreld和David Goodman)(duncan.miriri@thomsonreurs.com；電話：+25420 4991239；路透社消息：(duncan.miriri.thomsonreurs.com@reurs.net)
譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。