Number Of Active ShowMax Users Up 50% Amidst Coronavirus Crisis

ShowMax, among other streaming services, has recorded a spike in viewership numbers as more people remain stuck in their homes due to coronavirus crisis. The company says it has seen a 50% rise in the number of active users, while play events – which occurs when someone clicks play on a TV show, movie, or live channel, have more than doubled.

Speaking about the same, Niclas Ekdahl, CEO of the Connected Video division of MultiChoice said, “We’re in the fortunate position of being able to do something to help people through this period.”

“We’ve added live news and education channels to Showmax using the streaming functionality originally set up for sport. We’ve also created edutainment content rows to help parents, and we’re even adding yoga and other exercise programming,” he added.

One of the key metrics that is used to measure these trends include the number of unique active users on a single day. “For Showmax, this number typically follows a weekly pattern with lulls on Wednesday and Thursday, and viewing then building from Friday to a peak on Sunday,” the company said.

The company saw a different pattern since Monday, March 15th, with the number of unique active users maintaining the Sunday trend and then continued to rise again in the next six days.

March 27th was the biggest day, but that trend has continued ever since, the company said.  Similar to the number of active users per day, this resulted in the number of play events to rise significantly.

Between February and mid-March, the company saw play events rise by 20% compared to a month earlier, then “rapid growth” was seen after that.

Like other streaming giants, ShowMax is also facing a challenge trying to keep their platform running as viewership numbers peak.

“… we’re managing our traffic load on mobile networks to make sure internet access isn’t interrupted, and we’ll keep looking for other opportunities to make a difference,” Ekdahl said.

Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates.