OTT streaming is rapidly reshaping Africa’s digital entertainment landscape, driven by rising smartphone adoption and a growing appetite for local storytelling. However, challenges like limited internet access, payment constraints, and infrastructure gaps continue to define how platforms must operate in the region. Continue reading
OTT streaming across the world has been growing at an unprecedented rate. One of the most transformative forces in modern entertainment, OTT has enabled users to transition from traditional broadcast television to flexible, on-demand, and on-the-go entertainment. While the change has been global, the African countries are rapidly stepping into the global OTT spotlight. OTT streaming in Africa is booming, and now is the right time to launch video streaming businesses in the African region.
Owing to the rise in digital adoption and an increasing smartphone penetration, OTT is booming in the African region, not just for international content but also for local storytelling. This blog tries to explore the various challenges faced by the region in the OTT space and also the exponential opportunities for platform owners owing to the region’s high inclination towards OTT streaming.
Despite this exciting momentum, African countries remain one of the most challenging regions for OTT platforms to operate in. Infrastructure gaps, low internet penetration, limited payment access, diverse linguistic segments, and affordability constraints continue to shape the unique trajectory of OTT growth on the continent.
Africa’s digital entertainment has gained great acceptance in the past few years, with more and more people contributing to its popularity. Several key growth factors include:
Affordable Android devices have ensured that entertainment has reached the palm of every individual.
Africa has the youngest population in the world, with over 70% sub-Saharan African population under the age of 30. The youth love video content and further increase projection numbers.
African original local content, such as Nollywood dramas, is becoming increasingly popular, giving rise to local OTT content creators. It has also enabled them to promote their content globally.
Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have encouraged content creation and consumption across languages and regions from local creators.
Talking about internet penetration, a few countries, especially the economic and digital hubs, offer better internet. Regions such as West African rural belts have limited internet access as of now, but it is improving.
Over-the-top (OTT) services are increasingly becoming popular in Africa, driven by the growth of internet connectivity and the adoption of smartphones. Subscription-based streaming services are leading the charge. This has led to the emergence of new players in the media and entertainment industry, with many local and global platforms investing in this space for African audiences.
Here is a report that will explore themedia landscape and updated projections for the OTT market in Africa from 2025 to 2029.
Now talking about the key challenges the African region faces, it is a compilation of multiple regions as well as technology-related restrictions. From internet infrastructure to device penetration, here are a few crucial attributes that tend to hinder the OTT growth in the region.
Many regions still lack consistent internet coverage, with the majority being accessed by patchy 3G/4G. Also, the high mobile data costs are another factor, as a single HD movie might consume a day’s worth of affordable data. Home wifi penetration remains low. As a result, high offline downloads are seen in the region. People access wifi to download whatever they want to watch offline and then stream as needed to watch African content
Efficient streaming depends heavily on having local CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) that deliver content from servers close to users. Many African regions lack adequate CDN coverage, meaning:
Higher latency and slower loading times
Frequent buffering during peak hours
Difficulty streaming HD and 4K content reliably
Rising operational costs for foreign productions that rely on international hosting infrastructure
The African continent is not a single language-driven community. Africa is incredibly linguistically diverse, with estimates ranging from 1,500 to over 3,000 languages spoken, representing about one-third of the world’s languages. The strong demand for regional storytelling and local content makes it even more difficult to produce. More complex language means more dubbing, more subtitling, and more multi-audio track requirements.
Therefore, a one-size-fits-all content strategy simply doesn’t work. Tailored content curation is essential.
Unlike Western markets, where subscription video and online streaming of video content dominate, African regions prefer offline viewing owing to unstable and costly internet. This means more money has to be invested in building DRM-enabled downloadable content and larger offline storage capabilities.
While the world is pushing for HD and 4K streaming, many African users still choose lower resolutions owing to internet limitations and device compatibility issues. 240p or 360p streaming is highly preferred due to data savings. Platforms must therefore optimize content to automatically adjust streaming quality and offer streaming that saves data, as well as does not hamper the viewing experience.
The mobile carrier is of utmost importance to the African audience. The African media landscape has preferred carrier billing over any other payment method. Most users do not own international credit cards, which are typically required by global streaming platforms, and there is significantly low credit card penetration in most regions. Hence, for platforms looking to sell in Africa, care has to be taken to ensure carrier billing is preferred.
Content piracy is a major issue all over the world. Businesses suffer major losses due to illegal usage of content via Telegram and other platforms. The same is true for Africa. There are 100s of illegal streaming websites and downloadable applications. Also, apps like WhatsApp and Telegram fuel this piracy menace.
Launching your own streaming platform in the African region is now easier than ever. Muvi and its various streaming software products are built to give you the start you need. From payments to apps and content management, Muvi’s years of experience in building streaming technology mean you don’t have to worry about anything.
Africa is a booming OTT hub and has immense potential for both global and regional players. With Muvi One, you can build from live streaming to on-demand streaming to FAST channels to gated content for educational platforms. Muvi can deliver all of it at just the click of a button.
Built-in CDN that works in Africa, providing effortless video and audio content delivery.
App-based, monitored offline viewing access so that viewers can enjoy content on the go.
Frictionless carrier billing integration specially equipped for Africa-specific regions to enable subscribers to pay as part of their telephone bills.
Secure content delivery adhering to all anti-piracy measures.
Subscription is not the only way to earn. Muvi lets you deploy all major monetization to your OTT platform so that you get the best out of your business.
Muvi One comes with over 80+ languages supported for subtitles. Leveraging advanced AI, ML-powered speech-to-text technology, it generates subtitles in one click with Alie AI.
If you’re looking for a platform that can give you a complete end-to-end solution to manage and stream your content, Muvi is the one-stop solution for it. Want to learn more about Muvi One and how it can help you launch your streaming service? Get a free 14-day trial today.
Written by: Shivashish
Shivashish works as a content writer at Muvi. He has worked in domains like e-commerce, employee engagement, sports and entertainment. A poet by heart, Shivashish believes in creating quality content that is rich in information and easy to understand.
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