In 2019, South African filmmaker Rethabile Ramaphakela was on the cusp of her massive break.
After greater than a decade within the film sector, the comedy screenwriter, producer and director had scored funding for her first feature-length film, ‘Seriously Single.’
“We were set to release in 2020; we were so excited,” says Ramaphakela. “It was going to be our big cinema release — and then Covid came around, and we were kind of stuck.”
But like every good comedy, timing is all the things. And an even bigger alternative was simply across the nook.
“Netflix had seen the film, and they loved it,” says Ramaphakela. “When Covid hit, they were like, why not just make it a Netflix Original? So we licensed the film to them, and that’s sort of when our story started.”
Since then, Ramaphakela and her manufacturing firm Burnt Onion have produced a number of unique sequence for the streamer, together with the award-winning “How to Ruin Christmas.”
Ramaphakela is one among a number of South African creators who’s been capable of finding sustainable funding, common commissions, and an enormous worldwide viewers by Netflix.
The US-based streaming big entered the African market in 2016, and after an preliminary $175 million funding in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya between 2016 by 2022, doubled down on South Africa, pouring roughly $250 million into content material between 2021 and 2024.
With a concentrate on creating native content material, streaming platforms like Netflix and South African service Showmax have develop into a significant catalyst for progress in Africa’s film and tv sector.
South Africa has develop into one among Netflix’s international manufacturing hubs, largely due to infrastructure like studio areas and the “high standard” of native manufacturing crews, says Kaye-Ann Williams, director of scripted content material for Netflix Africa.
In addition to commissioning unique content material, the nation is additionally used as a manufacturing location for worldwide sequence, together with “One Piece” (2023) — a live-action sequence primarily based on the Japanese manga of the identical identify — the biggest Netflix manufacturing in Africa by way of scale and price range.
The African viewers “want to watch shows that are in their accents, in their dialects, that reflect their lived experience, that touch on topics and things that concern them,” says Williams.
But the market on the continent is nonetheless small. Netflix’s predominant competitors is Showmax, which dominates regional streaming in Africa with a powerful native content material technique that focuses on actuality exhibits, sports activities, telenovelas and soaps, in addition to the exclusive licensing rights to stream HBO Max content material in Africa. (HBO Max is owned by NCS’s father or mother firm, Warner Bros Discovery.)
International streamers, then again, have restricted presence within the African market. Disney+, accessible in six African international locations as of 2022, has produced only a handful of content material on the continent, and Amazon’s Prime Video stopped commissioning original content in January 2024, after releasing its first unique African film only one 12 months earlier.
Part of the problem is connectivity. While streaming is viable in lots of African nations — corresponding to South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, which have the largest leisure and media sectors on the continent — web entry stays low, at round 37% in sub-Saharan Africa.
That may quickly change, although. In 2021, Google announced a $1 billion funding in Africa for tasks that would supply the continent with quick, reasonably priced web, together with the set up of recent fiber-optic cables that may improve velocity and capability.
Alex Okosi, managing director of Google Africa, says that the continent’s “mobile-first revolution” has been “fundamental” to the modifications in its leisure and media panorama.
An uptick in smartphone adoption has “been shifting people away from traditional linear TV to much more personal, on-demand viewing that really allows people to unlock the content they want, when they want and how they want it,” Okosi provides.
With mobile data the main way most individuals on the continent get on-line, a number of streamers, together with Netflix, have launched a mobile-only subscription plan for a fraction of the fee.
But streamers aren’t the one possibility: free, ad-supported platforms like YouTube, which is owned by Google, are creating new avenues for creators to achieve audiences, says Okosi.
He highlights Nigerian filmmaker Omoni Oboli, a key determine in Nollywood and sometimes called the “box office queen” for her hit films, who creates full-length options for her YouTube channel. Her current film, “Love in Every Word,” has 29 million views and counting, exhibiting a shift away from conventional tv and cinemas as the one option to view premium content material.
But film and inventive industries throughout Africa nonetheless face a large number of challenges, together with infrastructure gaps, restricted funding, and IP (mental property) safety.
Nigeria’s Nollywood, second solely to India’s Bollywood by way of output, is a filmmaking powerhouse. Production groups usually work on tight budgets and brief timelines, however revenue margins are slim, and the industry suffers vastly from piracy: it’s estimated that Nigeria misplaced $3 billion in revenue in 2019 alone to digital piracy.
Investment is being made, although. Earlier this 12 months, Africa’s commerce finance financial institution Afreximbank launched a $1 billion Africa Film Fund to finance manufacturing, distribution, and digital infrastructure.
London-born, Hollywood actor Idris Elba, whose mother and father are from Sierra Leone and Ghana, is shifting forward with plans to construct studios in Zanzibar, Ghana, and Sierra Leone.
“Much of the imagery about Africa isn’t even generated from Africa,” Elba told NCS in 2024. “A lot of media is centered around (negative depictions of Africa). But the median age in Africa is 19; these young people are optimistic and deserve the chance to tell their own stories.”
Streamers like Netflix are additionally investing in training and coaching: the price range for “One Piece” included $400,000 for coaching and growth of younger expertise, and earlier this 12 months, the streamer launched a “ScreenCraft Pathways” program, designed to supply rising expertise paid, hands-on expertise.
“Where we have really worked and invested is in the writers’ rooms,” says Williams. “The development has not just been about putting them in our programs or courses, but it’s been taking that skill and putting it to practice on a show. That continuity has produced shows like ‘Bad Influencer,’ where the creative producer and the creator of the show came through one of our Grow programs,” Williams provides.
Some critics fear that streaming companies will homogenize the audiovisual sector, and that molding content material for a generic, international viewers will take away nuance and cultural authenticity.
However, a number of creators engaged on the continent have pushed again in opposition to that concept. Nigerian film director Akin Omotoso, who has produced movies like “Rise” (2022) for Disney+ and “Marked” (2025) for Netflix, says his experiences helped him develop “immensely as a filmmaker.”
“Where some fear interference (or) streamlining of story, I see people working,” Omotoso instructed NCS in an electronic mail. “Money to make films has never come without strings attached — it’s always been up to the filmmaker to navigate external requirements and their own unique and authentic expression.”
Similarly, Bradley Joshua, co-founder and CEO of South African manufacturing firm Gambit Films, the creators of hit sequence “Blood and Water,” has discovered Netflix’s emphasis on native content material “surprising, but refreshing.”
“Our first impression was, now we have to tell stories that are globally resonant,” says Joshua. “But they were like, no, actually, we need to tell stories that resonate locally.”
The bigger price range for tasks has additionally allowed him to convey on a cultural and language advisor, to make sure that tasks precisely signify the range of South Africa, he provides.
Ramaphakela doesn’t really feel that working with international streamers has made her work much less culturally particular, however she does observe that the industry has develop into extra “risk-averse,” globally.
“The bottom line, people need to make their money back,” she provides. Luckily, Africa is a largely untapped market — creating an enormous alternative for these keen to take a position.
“I’m excited for more streamers to open up,” says Ramaphakela, including: “I do look forward to, the industry opening up, in terms of creativity and new ideas and new shows — can’t wait for the next 10 years.”