Less than a year ago Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada shared during an investor presentation his thoughts about the relationship between Netflix and his company. He declared that “although we could be perceived as competitors, we were actually on the same side, encouraging people to pay for content”. After making this a reality in France and Poland, Canal+ recently took this philosophy a step further by announcing a partnership with Netflix across 24 French-speaking African countries. The partnership sees Netflix integrated into Canal+’s pay TV offering, becoming accessible alongside more than 400 linear channels as well as Canal+’s own VOD catalogue. While this deal marks a significant strategic move for both Netflix and Canal+, key questions remain about its actual impact. How compelling is the value proposition of this new offering? Will it be enough to overcome the persistent challenges facing the African pay TV and OTT markets? Furthermore, what effect will it have on the performance and market positioning of both companies across the region? From content relevance to connectivity challenges, let’s explore the key factors that will determine the success of this partnership. To evaluate the potential impact of this deal, it’s important to take a closer look at Netflix's current situation in Africa. With 2.3M subscribers at the end of 2024, the American platform is tied with Showmax as the most used paid OTT service in the region. Although highly ranked, Netflix is struggling to find traction in the region. Between 2023 and 2024, the company registered 300K new subscribers. Navigating the African SVOD market has proven challenging, and Netflix is no exception to the broader struggles facing the entire sector. The difficult economic situation in key markets (notably Nigeria and South Africa) is driving viewers’ purchasing power down and toward more accessible AVOD services or illegal alternatives. More than 90% of Netflix subscribers in the region are from English-speaking countries, for the most part split across South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. Therefore, having a new content distribution channel in French-speaking Africa is a significant opportunity for Netflix to penetrate countries where it had a limited presence. This implies two questions when analyzing the impact of the deal: First, what are the implications of the Canal+ and Netflix partnership for content accessibility in the region? Canal+ currently serves over 7 million subscribers across the region, primarily through satellite (DTH), which does not require internet connectivity. This infrastructure gives Canal+ a strategic advantage in markets where broadband access remains limited. In this context, the integration of Netflix into Canal+’s offer raises key questions about content distribution models and how they will address persistent infrastructure challenges. Netflix may rely on Canal+ to adapt its offering to local realities. In markets...
