African streaming serviceShowmax, in which Comcast/NBCUniversal owns a 30 percent stake, posted higher revenue but also increased losses for its latest fiscal year ended in March amid investments related to its recent relaunch, African pay-TV giant MultiChoice Group disclosed on Wednesday.

Showmaxs revenue for the year grew by 22 percent to 1.0 billion South African rand ($54 million). The loss related to the streamer more than doubled from around 1.2 billion rand ($65.0 million) to 2.6 billion rand ($140.5 million) as the company cited an additional 1.4 billion rand ($75.7 million) investment in Showmax to drive future growth. But it had previously predicted a bigger loss in the range of 3.0 billion-4.0 billion rand ($162 million-$216 million). Fiscal year 2024 was a pivotal year for Showmax as it relaunched across 44 markets in sub-Saharan Africa on Peacocks world-class platform, which is 4K/HDR and ATMOS ready, the company said. Almost 100 percent of the eligible customer base was migrated to the new Showmax platform, and 88 percent of those migrated had reactivated their accounts in the seven weeks to year-end.

It added: Showmax, which re-launched in February, is showing encouraging early traction it delivered record single-month growth in March 2024, with the paying subscriber base growing 16 percent from the

migrated base at relaunch to year-end.

MultiChoice, which owns a 70 percent stake in Showmax, didnt break out the streamers subscriber figures. But it disclosed a 9 percent drop in total company subscribers across platforms from 17.3 million to less than 15.7 million. The drop was mainly due to a 13 percent decline in the Rest of Africa business as mass-market customers in countries like Nigeria had to prioritize basic necessities over entertainment, while the South African business showed more resilience with a 5 percent decline, MultiChoice explained.

Earlier this year, the streamer relaunched, powered by the MultiChoice joint venture withComcastandNBCUniversals Peacock streaming platform, new pricing, mobile-only offers, as well as an expanded content lineup, including popular sports and more originals to offer up the best of African andinternationalprogramming.

The Showmax service, which launched in South Africa before over time expanding to 44 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, previously summarized its goals this way: to change the game for streaming in Africa and to be the number one streamer in Africa.

Showmax is led by CEO Marc Jury whose team is focused on four core strategies. The four pillars are creating the best and most loved stories, making sure its accessible, making sure its effortless to access and affordable, he told THR earlier this year. Those are the four key elements that were going to hang our hat on and were going to keep reiterating to the market for why we will be the number one streaming platform in Africa.

Showmax originals have included the likes of high-school dramaYoungins, university dramaWyfie, crime dramaKoek, comedyEkhaya Backpackers,and Nigerian documentary seriesFree Men.