In a bid to capture the East African market, Netflix is launching a free mobile plan in Kenya. The offer will, unsurprisingly, be available to users on Android as the OS dominates the market in terms of users not only in Kenya but the rest of Africa.
“If you’ve never watched Netflix before — and many people in Kenya haven’t — this is a great way to experience our service,”
Cathy Conk, director of product innovation at Netflix (via Reuters)
Netflix is reportedly dedicating a quarter of its library to this free plan and this will include popular shows like Money Heist, Blood & Water as well as Bridgerton.
Now, this isn’t anything new, if you remember last year the streaming service launched a similar product in India. The motivation is much the same as in India where the market is dominated by Disney-owned Hotstar and Jio TV.
Netflix is looking to increase its footprint in a market that it has traditionally found difficult to penetrate. We all know that DStv rules the land and its Showmax streaming service is gaining in popularity what with it having live sport.
All that aside I have to admit that the free plan is pretty enticing. Anyone in Kenya over the age of 18 will be able to watch Netflix for free and create up to five profiles without supplying any payment information.
The only hitch is that you will still be able to see the shows that are outside the mobile free offer on Netflix. If you try to access them you will be prompted to sign and provide payment information.
However, with the size of Netflix’s library, I can imagine that those in Kenya with internet access won’t mind getting to see the free shows only. But there is also bound to be a number of people who will be tempted to take the plunge to access the full library.
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