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      CineMagic Launches in South Africa Via MTN and Vodacom

      Story Of The Week

      CineMagic Launches in South Africa Via MTN and Vodacom

      New Video on Demand (VoD) streaming service CineMagic is now available to mobile users via the Vodacom Video Play and MTN Play platforms. The service provides mobile users with short-form videos, series and documentaries that are designed for smaller screens. Launched in June, it offers director-driven, well-acted and high-value curated video content that is between 5 and 30 minutes in duration. 

      Categories include African content, drama, comedy, action, romance, adventure, sci-fi, horror, animation and thrillers. New genres of content are being added regularly. Output can be streamed from the CineMagic website to devices via cellular or Wi-Fi.

      Tarifica’s Take

      As mobile video streaming comes into ever-greater demand, entertainment content providers and mobile operators alike are finding that it is in their interest to offer content that is tailored specifically to mobile devices.

      Swedish technology manufacturer Ericsson forecasts that by 2025, about 76 percent of global wireless bandwidth will be taken up by video delivery. Currently in South Africa, smartphone penetration is over 92 percent, according to industry regulator ICASA, and more than 22 million consumers use their mobile phones to access the internet.

      Short-form, high-quality video content that is optimized for mobile devices will very likely find a receptive market in South Africa. Consumers will probably respond enthusiastically to entertainment products that are native to handheld devices, so to speak, rather than being adapted from other formats with a concomitant loss or reduction of certain aspects of the intended experience. And given the types of attention that users can give to small screens on the go, shorter is better, so the 5- to 30-minute time frame seems quite appropriate.

      For Vodacom and MTN, partnering with CineMagic to deliver the service to their subscribers and co-brand the content is a savvy move, tending as it does to strengthen the relevance of their brands and to satisfy their subscribers with rich, value-added additions to theirs basic mobile service.