(Ecofin Agency) - Naspers has launched its video on demand servcie, Showmax, in 36 African countries. The service goes from Botswana to Ethiopia and Djibouti, and is available also in Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal and Mauritius. The firm is presently in discussions to introduce the service in Nigeria and Egypt.

With the expansion comes a wider range of content, with Swahili (Spoken in Eastern Africa) programs and Nigerian movies broadcasted. Showmax in Africa is competing with American Netflix. Number one in the world, Netflix entered the African market in January 2016. In anticipation of its move, Naspers launched Showmax in August 2015.

Showmax’ chief product officer, Barron Ernst said the service is available through a platform designed to allow fast download, with an offline replay option. This answers Africa’s low broadband issue and high cost of internet connection.

In spite of these challenges Naspers believes that VoD has a bright future in Africa. “Growth potential in Africa is huge and we are not the only Internet-TV service looking to meet this demand,” Ernst said.

Less than a year after it was launched, Showmax was made available in 65 countries around the globe. It is thus not only focused only on Africa. Other countries include Australia, UK and USA where Showmax broadcasts Afrikaans TV channel kykNET.