Yes, you read right. US-based movie streaming platform, Netflix, announced on Monday that it had begun the rollout of a free Netflix plan for Kenyans. Is anyone thinking of relocating to Kenya yet?
It was announced in a blog post released on Monday, September 20, 2021. The platform’s Director for Product Innovation, Cathy Conk, revealed that Android mobile phone users above 18 in the East-African country can now access one-quarter of movies and television shows on Netflix free of charge and without ads.
What wasn’t said. The blog post said nothing about how long this free plan would be available and whether plans are in the works to extend this offer to other markets. However, Conk hinted at the most likely reason for this offering: free subscribers can upgrade to a paid subscription to access the platform’s full catalogue of movies and shows.
Sugar for ants; ants for sugar. Considering a September 2021 Statista report projecting that there’d be a total of 2.6 million Netflix subscribers in Africa by the end of the year, this move is probably to increase sub-Saharan Africa’s subscriber figures and, in the long-term, increase paying subscribers.
Viability? With 2,424,857 (17.6%) of Kenya’s 13,777,600 young people — excluding students, homemakers, and those discouraged from looking for work — currently unemployed, there might not be such a significant increase in paying subscribers. Beyond the subscription fee, unaffordable Internet is a bigger factor to consider.
Source: Tech Point
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