ShowMax officially launched in Kenya in October this year with subscription video on demand (SVOD).
While ShowMax had been available since last year, the ShowMax team was working behind the scenes to Kenyanise it. For one, they brought it in their servers to a few data centres in Kenya to speed up the service.
Then they created ShowMax Select which offers customers 3,000 hours of local and international shows for ksh. 330 a month – it’s optimised for mobile viewing and uses as little data as possible.
There’s also ShowMax Premium for ksh. 880 which gives customers access to more than 25 000 series episodes, movies and kids shows.
They also worked with Safaricom to include M-Pesa as one of the payment methods. A ShowMax data bundle is apparently in the works as well.
We have used the service since then and here are 5 key things that we think you should know about it.
1. There’s lots to watch
ShowMax has something for everyone. Shows such as Suits, Luther, Silicon Valley and Big Bang Theory are available as well as Kenyan TV shows such as Kona, Sumu la Penzi, Mheshimiwa and even Vitimbi.
On ShowMax Premium, you can access the full catalogue of movies and series. You can also stream the videos of your choice in HD. On Select, streaming is in SD (to save data), and in addition to all the Kenyan content you also get to choose from a more focused international content library – shows like Nashville and Teen Wolf.
2. Download shows and watch offline
ShowMax has this cool feature that allows you to download up to 25 movies or series at a time to watch offline. The downloads can be done on iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets. This is perfect for road trips, long commutes on the bus or when you’re away from home and don’t have internet. It also means that you can download shows when you have Wi-Fi (like at the office) and not use any of your own precious data at home!
The downloads will be on your device for 30 days and once you start watching something, you have up to 48 hours to finish watching it. You can download the same show or movie as many times as you like.
3. Control how much data ShowMax uses
Changing to a lower quality of streaming can reduce data consumption by up to to 75%. Download your top shows over Wi-Fi at home or the office and watch offline when you’re on the move. ShowMax has three different quality settings to stream and four different options for downloads. Check out the data calculator to see how much you need »
4. Signing up is easy
Sign up is easy and you can either use an email address or a Facebook account. It has two packages, Premium and Select.
Showmax offers new users a free 14-day trial that lets them check out their full catalogue of series and movies for free – but you will have to add either your credit card or PayPal payment details to qualify for the free trial.
5. Paying for ShowMax is quick and easy
Showmax Select costs Ksh. 330 a month and Premium goes for Ksh. 880 a month.
Pay for the Showmax package you like with M-Pesa, Credit Card or PayPal. You can however only pay for Select with M-Pesa. You can either pay for a month, 3 months or 6 months.
[Also read: How to pay for ShowMax with M-Pesa]
6. ShowMax is available on lots of different devices
You probably won’t need to go out and buy any new tech to watch ShowMax as there are lots of supported devices, which include:
- Computers (via a web browser)
- Apple iPhones and iPads running iOS 8.4 or higher
- Apple TV (4th Generation)
- Android phones and tablets running Android 4.1.0 or higher
- Samsung Smart TVs (2012 and later)
- Samsung Tizen Smart TVs (2015 and later)
- LG NetCast Smart TVs (2012 to 2014)
- LG WebOS Smart TVs (2014 and later)
Select is however not available on Smart TVs.
On Premium, watch ShowMax on two devices simultaneously. For example, if you are in the house, one person can watch one thing on the TV while another can watch something else on say a computer. Select is optimized for mobile and uses very little data to stream. On Select, you can only view on one screen at a time.
For both packages, you are allowed to add up to five devices, that you’ll be watching from, at a time.
Sign up for ShowMax Premium or ShowMax Select at showmax.com