France’s Canal+ emerges as a new global counterweight in streaming

The global streaming consolidation race is in full swing, as suitors reportedly circle Warner Bros. Discovery. But across the Atlantic, French media giant Canal+ has already made a transformative move that could redefine global streaming for years to come: its long-awaited acquisition of South Africa’s MultiChoice in September, owner of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest homegrown streaming platform, Showmax.

The deal, valued at approximately $3.2 billion, creates a combined global media giant with deep audience loyalty and brand awareness in one of the world’s last remaining growth regions. The implications go beyond streaming rivals — advertisers see Canal+ as a potential challenger to the likes of Google.

“What I’ve heard from big agencies and big media buying groups is that they are so hungry to get pitches from international media groups that can put together inventory packages that compete with Google, because today, they are the slaves of Google,” said François Godard, global video and sports industries analyst at Enders Analysis.

Canal+ will have the advantage of being linear too. “It’s not only people watching on their phone. It’s people watching a real TV screen which has much more value than YouTube,” Godard added.

The context

The acquisition cements Canal+’s place on the global streaming map, as the likes of Vix, Shahid and iQiyi have emerged as contenders to U.S. streaming giants in South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, respectively.

“MultiChoice has a strong presence across Africa via its pay TV and streaming offerings, so for advertisers, this means access to a larger audience across multiple geographies, which is attractive for pan-African campaigns and potentially global campaigns for brands aiming to reach Africa,” said Moto Ara, senior analyst at Ampere Analysis.

The company’s ambitions are clear: CEO Maxime Saada told Bloomberg that Canal+ is aiming for 100 million subscribers “in order to be one of the top five global entertainment companies in the world, and maybe the only non-American.”

It’s already getting there: The combined group will have more than 40 million subscribers across 70 countries. Netflix and Disney have stopped disclosing subscriber numbers, but the last reported figures showed more than 300 million for Netflix and 128 million for Disney+.

Canal+ isn’t stopping there: After upping its stake last year, it retains an option to buy majority ownership of Viu and its 13 million subscribers across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. And it already owns 30% of Northern European streamer Viaplay, which counts 6 million subscribers.

More importantly than subscribers, Canal+ is gaining major sports rights. MultiChoice already owns broadcast rights for the English Premier League, the Champions League and Formula 1 in sub-Saharan Africa.

“While the scale of the business still does not match that of Netflix and Amazon from the perspective of its global reach, it is in a much stronger position in the region, where both Netflix and Amazon are unlikely to compete for regional rights,” said Danni Moore, senior analyst at Ampere Sports.

Netflix even acknowledged Canal+’s strength by partnering to distribute its content across sub-Saharan Africa earlier this year.

“Canal+, together with MultiChoice, has huge market share. Canal+ still accounts for around half of OTT and pay TV subscribers combined in the sub-Saharan African region, while Netflix’s share is less than 10% and Disney’s less than 1%,” Ara said.

What’s ahead

Expanding TV and streaming operations in sub-Saharan Africa means successfully navigating different regulators, languages, cultures and infrastructure constraints. That’s something Canal+ already has experience with, Godard said.

“All of this is very time consuming,” Godard said. “You understand why others wouldn’t do it because the reward will be over years; it won’t be immediate.”

One key advantage that Canal+ has is existing satellite infrastructure. “Broadband coverage is very low, so it is a barrier to entry behind which Canal+ and MultiChoice are protected,” Godard said.

That moat will be a big tailwind for the growing global media giant, which analysts expect will be in pole position to ride the growth of streaming in the region.

“It is a play for global scale in some of the world’s fastest-growing markets and a rare opportunity to purchase a media company of this size,” said Daoud Jackson, senior analyst, media and entertainment at Omdia.