South Africa Watched the Most Netflix Movies in 2023

Netflix, the second-largest streaming platform in Africa, has unveiled its inaugural biannual report, detailing the most-watched content on the platform worldwide between January and June 2023. This comprehensive report covers over 18,000 titles streamed for a staggering total of more than 100 billion hours.

The top position for Africa was claimed by the debut season of the South African series, Unseen, ranking at 229 globally. This series accumulated over 60 million viewing hours on Netflix, equivalent to 6,800 years—surpassing the duration of human civilization.

Within the top 10 most-streamed movies in Africa, South Africa secured eight spots, while Nigeria earned two with Shanty Town and Far From Home, ranking globally at 750 and 2088, respectively.

South Africa's dominance in streaming numbers comes as no surprise, accounting for 73% of Netflix viewers in Africa. Nigeria, on the other hand, contributes approximately 10.5% of Netflix's viewers on the continent. This supremacy is driven not only by South Africa's robust economy but also by a well-established online video market and an increasing demand for streaming content.

While Netflix's report highlights the success of movies globally, recent data indicates that Showmax has overtaken Netflix as the market leader in Africa. Netflix entered the African market in 2016, competing against established players like MultiChoice and new entrants like Amazon Prime Video.

Netflix's strategy on the continent involves a blend of licensing content, such as Nigeria's Black Book from local studios, and creating original content like The Origin: Madam Koi-Koi. This twofold approach has incurred costs of $175 million for Netflix over six years, as reported in April by the streaming service.

Despite Nigeria boasting the most licensed content in Africa, it garnered only $23 million, while South Africa secured the lion's share with $125 million. Netflix has seen substantial returns on its investment, generating over $230 million in revenue over the past two years.