Netflix on Monday started providing a free cell plan with about one-quarter of its TV reveals and films in Kenya, a technique geared toward sparking development in a key African market, the corporate informed Reuters.

The free plan is out there on Android cellphones and won’t have ads. It options Netflix motion pictures and TV reveals resembling dramas Money Heist and Bridgerton and African sequence Blood & Water, plus a few of the programming the corporate licenses from others.

Netflix hopes the free plan will result in customers signing up for a paid possibility with extra content material.

The world’s largest streaming video service is trying so as to add prospects exterior of extra saturated markets such because the United States, the place new subscriber signups have slowed at a time when competitors for on-line audiences has intensified.

Executives stay bullish on the long-term future, noting there are giant markets the place streaming tv is simply beginning to take maintain. To appeal to prospects in Africa, Netflix is investing in domestically made programming resembling Queen Sono and Jiva! and has partnered with manufacturing studios in Nigeria.

“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, mentioned in a blog post. “And if you like what you see, it’s easy to upgrade to one of our paid plans so you can enjoy our full catalog on your TV or laptop as well.”

The free plan began on Monday and can roll out throughout Kenya within the coming days.

The non-paying Netflix subscribers in Kenya is not going to be counted within the paid complete the corporate studies every quarter, a spokesperson mentioned.

Netflix has experimented with free provides earlier than. In 2020, it made some episodes of sequence resembling Stranger Things and films together with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before obtainable all over the world for no cost through Web browsers.

The free plan in Kenya is broader. It will look just like paid Netflix profiles to offer viewers a really feel for the service, the spokesperson mentioned. Shows that aren’t included within the free plan shall be marked with a lock icon. Clicking on a type of titles will encourage the person join a paid possibility.

Anyone 18 or older in Kenya can enroll within the free plan and create as much as 5 profiles. No fee data shall be required.

Some features, resembling the flexibility to obtain a present or film, is not going to be obtainable beneath the free plan.

Netflix, which streams in additional than 190 international locations, has taken different steps to spice up utilization in Africa, together with creation of a paid mobile-only plan and partnerships with native telecom operators to ease funds.

The firm reported 209 million paying prospects worldwide on the finish of June. New member pickups slowed within the first half of 2021 after a growth early within the COVID-19 pandemic.

Africa presently is a comparatively small marketplace for streaming TV subscriptions. Digital TV Research tasks Netflix will lead subscription video on demand providers on the continent with 6.26 million paying prospects in 2026, adopted by Walt Disney’s Disney+.

© Thomson Reuters 2021