International company leaving South Africa this week
UK-based streaming service Britbox will no longer be available to South African viewers later this week.
Earlier this year, the streaming service said it would close its South African operations on Friday, 30 August 2024.
The service was a joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV before the former bought out the latter in a 255 million pound (R6 billion) deal in February. The streaming service is believed to have roughly 3.75 million subscribers.
The service launched in South Africa in August 2021 and said its entry into the local market and first year of operations were successful.
Britbox confirmed that the service would close this week. The company will focus on more established markets and the areas of the business with the most potential for growth.
“A large proportion of the content on BritBox has been exclusive to the service in South Africa; however, we expect some of this great British programming will find a new home on other platforms and channels in the territory in the future.”
“There is also a suite of BBC branded channels on DStv – BBC Earth, BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC UKTV, CBeebies and BBC World News.”
Although this may be a blow for fans of British series, it is a relatively small player in the South African streaming industry.
Although international streamers do not often share subscriber numbers, data from JustWatch shows that it is not one of the top six streaming services in the country.
JustWatch’s data shows that Netflix has a market share of 31% in South Africa, followed by Amazon Prime Video at 26% and Showmax at 25%.
Mubi follows at 7%, AppleTV+ at 4% and Curiorsity at 2%.
Britbox, however, only makes it into the Other category, with 5% of the market share.
Moreover, according to JustWatch, Britbox only has 50 titles available in South Africa.
This is far less than Amazon Prime Video and Netflix’s 8,585 and 6,655 titles, respectively.
Big business coming and going
Britbox joins a large list of international companies exiting South Africa.
Shell is selling its share in Shell Downstream South Africa, which includes a network of 600 petrol stations. The oil giant does, however, plan to continue operating its upstream business in 2024.
BNP Paribas, the world’s sixth-biggest bank, also had its licence to conduct a bank’s business via a branch withdrawn from the Prudential Authority.
The French bank is scaling back from its non-core operations in Africa, focusing more on Asia.
After a failed takeover bid from BHP, Anglo-American announced that it would spin off Anglo-American Platinum
Rolex has also closed its official affiliate in South Africa after seven decades.
The luxury watchmaker said that local markets have evolved and no longer warrant the presence of an official Rolex affiliate in South Africa. That said, the brand will remain active in the country via its Official Retailer network and provide after-sales services.
There are, however, several international brands that are set to launch in South Africa in 2024.
The first store of British coffee chain Pret a Manger will open in South Africa later this year.
More stores are also expected in major cities, including Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria.
The Foschini Group (TFG) is also bringing popular UK-based JD Sports to South Africa by late 2024.
The sports fashion retailer sells products from its private labels Pink Soda and Supply & Demand, as well as major brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma
TFG plans to open 40 JD Sports stores in South Africa over the next half a decade.
Luxury hotel chain Hyde is set to open a 131-room hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg, next month.
Low-cost Norweigan Airline Norse Atlantic Airways will also start offering a route connecting London Gatwick Airport with Cape Town International Airport in late October.
The low-cost Norweigan Airline will operate flights three times a week, starting at £499 (about R11,500).
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