South Africa dominates Netflix’s most-watched movies in Africa for 2023

Netflix, the second largest streaming platform in Africa, recently released its first of what will become a biannual report that details what people watched on Netflix over six months—January to June 2023—globally. The list covered over 18,000 titles that were streamed for more than 100 billion hours. 

Topping the charts for Africa is the first season of the South African series, Unseen, which held the 229th position globally. The series was seen for over 60 million hours on Netflix, the equivalent of 6,800 years, which is longer than human civilisation.

South Africa had the most representation in the top 10 most-streamed movies in Africa with eight representations, while Nigeria had two with Shanty Town and Far From Home, which were ranked 750 and 2088, respectively, on Netflix’s global scale.

South Africa’s numbers come as no surprise, as the country accounts for 73% of Netflix viewers in Africa. Nigeria contributes only about 10.5% of Netflix’s viewers on the continent. The Rainbow Nation’s pole position is driven not only by its strong economy but also by a well-established online video market and a growing appetite for streaming content.

While the report shows how well movies are doing globally, a recent report shows that Netflix lost its market leader status in Africa to Showmax. Netflix set up shop on the continent in 2016 and raced against competition from incumbent players, including market leader MultiChoice, and new players like Amazon Prime Video. 

Netflix’s strategy on the continent combines licensing content such as Nigeria’s Black Book from local studios with producing original content such as The Origin: Madam Koi-Koi. This two-pronged approach has cost Netflix $175 million in six years, according to a report released by the streaming service in April. 

Although Nigeria had the most licensed content in Africa, it got only $23 million, compared to  South Africa which got the lion’s share with $125 million. Netflix has more than recouped its investment, making more than $230 million in the last two years.