The Stakes Behind Rochelle Knock’s Move to the Top of Disney’s African Operation
Rochelle Knock’s arrival could reshape how Disney measures success across a continent that doesn’t play by familiar rules
The Walt Disney Company’s decision to name Rochelle Knock as vice president of Disney+ and Networks and as country head for sub-Saharan Africa marks more than a leadership rotation. It’s a recalibration of how Disney intends to compete in a region where data costs, patchy broadband and payment frictions define the streaming market.
Knock joins from Yoco Technologies, where she managed customer value and payment products — skills that fit Africa’s fragmented billing systems far better than global marketing playbooks. Her role will span direct-to-consumer business, linear networks, and regional growth strategy under Disney’s EMEA structure.
The Local Challenge: Turning Familiarity into Revenue
Disney’s brand recognition runs deep in Africa. Its real test is conversion — persuading households to pay regularly for streaming in economies built on mobile money and pre-paid income cycles. Subscription churn tends to spike when budgets tighten or data costs rise. That’s where Knock’s payments background becomes strategic: retention hinges on convenience as much as content.
Scale, Presence, and the Numbers Behind the Story
Disney’s African operation remains small but significant. The company keeps two offices, in Johannesburg and Cape Town, with roughly sixty employees serving forty markets. Its streaming base lags behind the leaders, but it’s growing.
In South Africa, independent trackers place Disney+ near 115 000 subscribers. Netflix stands at about 1.2 million, while Showmax, now tied to Comcast’s Peacock, leads with roughly 1.26 million. MultiChoice Group reports 14.5 million active linear subscribers and a 44 percent rise in paying Showmax users after its 2024 relaunch. Those figures explain why Disney’s next moves will likely rely on partnerships as much as platform tweaks.
Partnerships as the Path to Scale
Across the continent, streaming access often runs through telecom and pay-TV bundles. Disney+ launched in South Africa in 2022 through MultiChoice’s DStv and later added carrier-linked plans in other markets.
MTN Nigeria illustrates the model: it distributes Prime Video Mobile Edition, letting users subscribe via airtime and data bundles. That approach bypasses card payments and offers affordability in mobile-first economies. Safaricom in Kenya has taken a similar bundling route, but with MultiChoice’s Showmax and DStv Stream, using USSD and M-Pesa flows for sign-ups. No equivalent Netflix-Safaricom partnership exists as of 2025 — a reminder that even global giants must negotiate country by country.
For Disney, the immediate question is whether to deepen such alliances or to chase direct sign-ups through its own billing stack. Bundles bring reach; independence brings data and margin.
Streaming Africa by the Numbers
- Disney+ — about 115 000 subscribers in South Africa; limited disclosed data elsewhere.
- Showmax — roughly 1.26 million subscribers; 44 percent year-on-year growth post-relaunch.
- Netflix — about 1.2 million South African subscribers; smaller numbers spread across Nigeria and Kenya.
- Prime Video — estimated 800 000 users, buoyed by MTN Mobile Edition in Nigeria.
- Linear TV (MultiChoice) — 14.5 million active subscribers across sub-Saharan Africa.
Pricing remains a sticking point: a Netflix mobile plan in Kenya costs under $4 monthly, while Disney+ tends to ride on bundled telecom packages. In markets where broadband is costly and incomes fluctuate, that difference shapes loyalty more than catalogue size.
The Economics Beneath the Entertainment
Streaming’s African opportunity lies between affordability and scale. Advertising-supported tiers could open wider audiences, but ad markets remain thin and measurement tools unreliable. On the payments side, mobile money offers reach yet limits cross-border uniformity. The most viable growth path blends partnerships with incremental product adaptation — less about headline expansion, more about quiet technical work on billing, data compression and local discovery algorithms.
Reading the Road Ahead
Knock inherits a fragmented map: promising markets, complex infrastructure, and audiences eager for local relevance. If she pushes Disney to commission more African storytelling and fine-tune its partnerships rather than replicate global templates, the company could shift from peripheral presence to sustained relevance.
Failure would look subtler — steady recognition without scale. The Disney name would linger, but the audience would stay on rival apps.
For now, the company’s African chapter turns on an executive whose background suits its toughest problem: translating affection for the brand into repeat behaviour. In the years ahead, Disney in sub-Saharan Africa will be measured not by launches, but by staying power.
Go to TECHTRENDSKE.co.ke for more tech and business news from the African continent.
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