Cell C’s entertainment platform Black has seen impressive growth in the mobile market since its launch in November 2017.
This is according to Black chief executive Surie Ramasary, who spoke to MyBroadband about the service.
The Black mobile application has over 100,000 downloads on Android and over 9,000 on iOS, said Ramasary.
The fast mobile adoption could be attributed to numerous factors, including the ability to purchase content with prepaid airtime and the launch of specialised Black-focused data bundles from Cell C.
“We are finding that rentals are doing very well on the platform at the moment,” said Ramasary.
“Customers are happy about the fact that they can get access to premium movies by simply paying with prepaid airtime.”
Ramasary said a good amount of consumers are also using PCs to watch content on the Black platform, and the subscriber base is growing across all devices.
Flexible packages
Black’s variety of packages and selection of daily, weekly, and monthly subscriptions have also been instrumental in driving its growth across all platforms, said Ramasary.
With a Cell C Black data bundle, Cell C customers can watch up to 1GB worth of content on the platform for R30.
The introduction of these data bundles has helped grow the number of subscribers, particularly on mobile – which has the “biggest audience by far”.
“From what we have seen, we have completely disrupted the market. The fact that you can use your prepaid airtime is huge, and for the first time you don’t need a credit card to access online content.”
Ramasary said South Africans are sensitive to price changes across all consumer markets and the flexible packages offered by Black allow them to spend what they want without sacrificing content they want to watch.
Popular content on the Black platform includes music, series, news, and live TV, with Fox TV becoming a popular choice among higher-spending subscribers.
Black is available as an app on Android and iOS, the BlackBOX set-top box, and through web browsers. Additionally, subscribers do not have to be a Cell C customer to access the platform.