2022 World Cup: Sub-Saharan Africa to livestream all matches for the first time
Football fans in Sub-Saharan Africa will be able to watch all 64 World Cup matches in 4K video resolution for the first time, thanks to the South African streaming service Showmax.
According to estimates, there will be 15 million video-streaming subscribers in Africa by 2026, out of Africa’s 1.4 billion population, and Showmax hopes that by offering free World Cup matches this year, it will increase its user base as Disney+ and Netflix compete for African users.
The streaming service will be available on Android and Apple-powered smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs, and smart boxes.
When the match between Qatar and Ecuador kicks off on Nov. 20 at the Al Bayt Stadium, soccer fans in 50 African countries will be able to watch their favourite teams compete, with FIFA estimating that this year’s tournament will be watched by 5 billion people, up from 3.5 billion in 2018.
Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Ghana will represent the continent on the world football stage, and Showmax is banking on lower mobile internet costs and higher smartphone penetration compared to the 2018 World Cup to bring more users onto its platform during the World Cup, which concludes on December 18. The livestreaming link will be tapped from Supersport.
“You have to be a subscriber to Showmax Pro to access live sport. Live sport featured on Showmax Pro includes every game of the FIFA World Cup and all Premier League, Serie A, LaLiga, UEFA Europa, and UEFA Conference leagues,” Barry Dubovsky, COO for Connected Video at MultiChoice which owns Showmax and Supersport, tells Quartz.
Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Connected Video at MultiChoice said in a press release that there will also be a feature for African football fans to download matches for offline viewing, having “created the lowest data streaming option on the continent.”
Phale adds that the 4K stream will be delivered in fine video pixilation and “will have up to 50 frames per second (fps), double the standard 25fps we currently offer.”
African viewers who want to save money on mobile data can watch the matches in High Definition (HD) format, which has resolutions of 1080, 720, and 480 and consumes 300MBs, 100MBs, and 50MBs per hour, respectively.
The 4K resolution will consume approximately 90MBs of data per minute of streaming, equating to at least 8.1 GBs of data per match.
The Pro plan, according to Showmax, allows subscribers to register up to five devices—including smart TVs, media boxes, and mobile devices—and stream on two devices at the same time, but there is also a mobile-only plan that allows viewers to stream on a single mobile device.
Users can also select specific matches and set reminders to watch, and if they miss a match, they can watch its highlights on demand.
However, the cost of smartphones is keeping a majority of Africans offline, and those who own them have to contend with low internet speeds as only less than 15 nations have laid down plans to launch 5G networks, under which heavy video streaming works best.
