• Showmax has announced that it is the first streaming platform to offer an interface in Kiswahili for Tanzanian subscribers.
• Kiswahili is the most widely spoken African language in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Showmax says the addition is part of strategy to enhance the overall user experience on the platform for Africans.

If you are a native Kiswahili speaker, Showmax has an announcement that will be of interest to you.

This as the streaming platform has confirmed that it is the first to offer an interface in Kiswahili for subscribers in Tanzania.

As for why it decided to add support for the language as an interface option, Showmax cites figures shared by UNESCO, in which Kiswahili is the most widely spoken African language in sub-Saharan Africa. Added to this is the fact that it is one of the 10 most widely spoken languages in the world, with more than 230 million speakers. 

Showmax also pointed out that the addition of the language is part of the larger push by the platform to support localisation.

“The introduction of the Kiswahili interface is part of a broader strategy to enhance the overall user experience on Showmax for Africans,” it added.

“The service relaunched in February 2024 in South Africa in partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky, running on a completely new app powered by Peacock. Showmax has since rolled out localised relaunches in countries including Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania, with a priority on local content and accessibility through localised payment solutions,” it added.

Along with supporting African languages within the UI of its platform, Showmax has also been focusing on this aspect for original content too. Right now, some of the African languages featured on Showmax originals include:

• isiZulu – Adulting,
• IsiXhosa – Soft Life,
• IsiZulu, isiXhosa, Sepedi and Sesotho – Youngins, 
• Afrikaans – Koek,
• Yoruba – Wura,
• Kiswahili – Pepeta.

“Local content and offerings in local language continue to resonate strongly across the continent. Nine of the 10 most-streamed titles on Showmax last year were local, because our audiences want to see content that relates to their local cultures. Adding Kiswahili as a navigation option makes Showmax even more accessible and personal to a large market segment in Africa,” pointed out Byron du Plessis, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa.

Here’s hoping that more African languages set the same treatment that Kiswahili has from Showmax in future.

[Images – Provided]