The team’s recent successes include the launch of the first Showmax Original telenovela The Wife, which became the most popular title on Showmax ever and trended at the top of Twitter every Thursday throughout its first two seasons, and at #1 again last Thursday, 10 November 2022, when S3 premiered.
In addition, Clearwater’s radio ad for Sex in Afrikaans won Gold for Best Radio Promotion, while Showmax also picked up Silvers for Devilsdorp’s Integrated Marketing Campaign and The Real Housewives of Lagos’ Social Media Campaign, which generated over 21 million video views, over 386,000 tweets using the #RHOLagos hashtag, and 133% growth across all of the Showmax social media accounts for Nigeria.
Paying subscribers to Showmax grew 50% year on year, according to the Interim Results released by MultiChoice last week, for the period ending 30 September 2022.
The Promax Africa wins follow Golds for Devilsdorp at the 2022 PRISM Awards (for Best Arts and Entertainment PR for Devilsdorp) and 2022 New Generation Awards (for Best Use of Podcast/Vlog). Similarly, in 2021, Showmax won Online Strategy of the Year at The New Generation Awards; ranked seventh overall in digital agencies at The Loeries; won Promax Golds for Best Integrated Marketing Campaign and Best Promotion for a Streaming Service; and Best Visual Effects at the coveted Ciclope Africa and Middle East Awards.
“Getting Africans watching and talking about films, series and documentaries must be one of the most fun briefs around,” says Lauren McInnes, Showmax’s head of brand and marketing. “Showmax content dominated both the SAFTAs and Emmys this year, so we couldn’t have asked for a stronger lineup to promote.”
While McInnes credits the content for much of Showmax’s success, she believes other drivers include the homegrown brand’s clear differentiation within the streaming sector; its data-driven, integrated and fan-first approach; and the agility that comes with having an internal agency and studio.
“Internal agencies remain relatively rare in the South African space but this latest award for Showmax speaks to the power of this model,” says Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Showmax and MultiChoice Connected Video.
November highlights on Showmax include S3 of the multi-award-winning telenovela The Wife; Tali’s Joburg Diary, the third installment of the repeat SAFTAs Best Comedy winner; the crime drama Donkerbos, starring Erica Wessels and Sanda Shandu; second seasons of Emmy winners The White Lotus and Hacks; The Many Saints of Newark, a critically acclaimed feature film prequel to The Sopranos; and Dune, winner of six Oscars this year and over 160 other awards.
For more information on joining this award-winning team, visit https://stories.showmax.com/careers/.