The image above is the teaser invitation sent to journalists of an impending media launch for a yet-to-be named service that Naspers is planning to launch on the 19th of August.
However speculation is rife that Naspers is planning to launch a Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) to compete with Netflix coming to South Africa.
Netflix announced in January 2015 that it would be able to complete its international expansion strategy earlier than expected.
Netflix’s global expansion strategy involves “acceleration to 200 countries”, which means being available globally in just about every country in the world.
In view of this, Naspers had to jumpstart by acquiring a stake in Icflix through Multichoice in April 2015.
Based in UAE, Icflix is a VOD platform offering on-demand video services to Morocco, Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.
In addition to offering Indian cinema (Bollywood), Arabic cinema (Jazwood), and Hollywood content, Icflix also announced this year that it had invested in studios to produce original content – as Netflix does.
Although the stake in Icflix was reportedly sold to MultiChoice and much of the development of Naspers’ SVOD service happened within MultiChoice, sources say that the operation was split off from the pay-TV operator and moved offshore for various business reasons.
It is said that the Netflix competitor from Naspers is based out of the UAE and the Czech Republic, with its headquarters in Dubai.
Naspers aims to roll out the service to “large developing economies” to get to market before Netflix.
