Video Streaming Services in 2020

Video Streaming Services in Kenya 2020

The days of having to tune in live to local TV or buy expensive discs in order to watch your favorite shows and movies are gone. The Prison Breaks and One Tree Hills CDs that you would get from your favourite video vendors are now a thing of the past. Just like the death of video libraries as a business, the new kid on the block is Video Streaming. Now, you can simply boot up one of the best streaming services, and watch your favorite movies and shows on-demand. Our favorite service overall is Netflix, offering an excellent selection of TV shows, movies and original programming.

If you need something a little cheaper, there are a number of free to watch online movies and series sites that would only need to match your taste. This is less expensive — but only if you’re willing to sit through some commercials. Showmax doesn’t seem to be getting a hold on the errant Kenyan consumers. And so are the many Youtubers in the country who although can pull large viewerships, they have been unable to seriously monetize their ventures. Before you can say “HBO Max, or Disney Plus” there’s yet another new challenger coming in 2020. Quibi (starting at $5 per month) launches in April and seeks to find an audience with celebrity-driven high-budget, short-form content developed just for smart phones, shot for both landscape and portrait orientations. The recent CES2020 key note from Quibi CEO and Founder shows that there are a lot more opportunites yet to be tapped in our market, especially in this area of media.

Video streaming services have not been so successful due to the high level of content required to feed the network. Unfortunately, even the little content that is in the market today is filled with comedy, telenovelas and some poorly planned undercover documentaries. Does that mean that Kenyans can’t consume more mature content? Say, business, investigative or even better TV dramas that leave you glued to your TV?

Recently, Creatives Garage, a Kenyan firm that provides space for artists and content producers, launched an online media streaming and video on demand (VOD) platform that is suited specifically for African stories.

The platform dubbed Kalabars, allows audience to view quality films, series, documentaries, music videos and listen to-audio content, on smart devices with a bias on African stories.

So the next time you pull up a video, a comedy or a documentary on your smart TV or phone, think of the opportunities that the Kenyan youths can tap into to build great content worth watching.