Usually, Africa absorbs all the innovations with at least a few years delay and most of the local startups is a copy or a modified form of that, which is already known to us in Europe, Asia, USA, and the Middle East.
Similarly, it is with startup Afrostream. This portal’s business model is SVOD – subscription video on demand. Afrostream gives access to video resources (films, comedies, documentaries, TV series) to people from all over the world, who are fascinated by the culture of Africa. On the African continent there are over one billion people, out of which 300 million have access to the Internet. This is a huge market which is ready for this type of solution, that is a clone of Netfilx – the largest Internet SVOD service in the world. In October 2015, Afrostream acquired an undisclosed amount of money from Orange. Due to the lack of adequate resources in Africa, the project was developed in France. It is based in Paris. The startup is focused primarily on the African market, whose potential is estimated at 10 million of regular customers per month. This is 3% of Internet users. For € 6.99 per month, Afrostream offers access to all its resources. In contrast, Netflix’s lowest subscription fee is 7.99 €.
In contrast to Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, which offers you hundreds of thousands of videos, Afrostream puts quality over quantity (or at least their PR states so). The American e-commerce giant, Amazon, has launched Prime Video in 51 African countries, including Nigeria, South Africa and South Sudan. It offers access to digital movies and TV shows with a monthly membership. It has introductory price €2.99 for the first six months, starting with a free 7-day trial. Viewers can watch videos anytime, anywhere thanks to the Prime Video app for Android/iOS, Fire Tablets, LG /Samsung Smart TVs or online at the website. It is also possible to download all videos and watch them offline at no extra payment. Prime Video is available in: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
