Showmax was launched last year in October and it offers subscription video on demand. I didn’t get a chance to try it out until this year when we got a voucher for a free month at Safaricom Jazz. To be honest at first, I was not impressed, well because most of their series and movies are years behind, and thanks to my movie guy(s) I am pretty up to date. Getting it for free for one month did make me binge watch things I hadn’t watched or rewatch a couple of things. I wasn’t convinced that it could be the best thing since sliced bread, but gradually I have gotten to find it useful, and worth getting a subscription.
There are two options, Showmax Select for Ksh. 330 which is optimized for mobile viewing and which uses as little data as possible but this gives you only selected local and international content. Showmax Premium is the other option and it costs Ksh. 880 and it gives you access to more than 25 000 series episodes, movies and kids shows. You can access all the content on the platform. ShowMax Launches In Kenya: A Comparison Of ShowMax And Other TV Content Providers
Here are the reasons I am loving Showmax.
- You can download shows and watch them offline.
You can download up to 25 movies or series episodes at a time to watch offline. Why I am loving it is because I have had to travel out of town and it was very useful because I was able to watch movies offline. Also, because I tend to download stuff for my nephew so that he can watch them where there is no Wi-Fi. You know how frustrating it can be to travel with a child and there is nothing for them to watch on tv. This takes care of that.
Your downloads will stay on your device for one month but if you click on any of them the download will expire in 48 hours and you will not be able to watch it after that unless you download it again. One of the things I love about the downloads is that you can choose what quality you want to download, which works for those who don’t want to add an SD card to their device. This option is great if you don’t always have access to Wi-Fi, you are travelling or you also want to limit what your kids can or cannot watch.
Showmax has four different options for downloads and three quality settings for streaming.
2. Plenty of things to watch.
There is something for everybody, there are different shows and series in the different categories and it includes African series and movies from MNeT. There is also great stuff for kids to watch, to be honest this is what sold me on Showmax. Showmax Premium offers you the full catalogue but I assume the cheaper option doesn’t. It probably gives you limits. You can either stream or download whatever you want to watch. I like that you can watch what you want, not being forced to pay for things you can’t watch.
3. You can register up to 5 devices.
This is one of the things I love. I can watch my movies and series on my computer, while my nephew uses my tablet to watch something else and my sister can watch her own stuff. This makes it easy for you not to have to fight to watch things on one device. Everybody can watch what they want. There is also an option for changing the devices, and you can change the devices a certain number of times in a year.
4. You can try it out for 14 days.
Showmax allows you to try out the service for 14 days for free, but you must add your credit card or PayPal account to quality for the free trial. Not to worry though if you decide to keep using the service you can pay with Mpesa. Payment options are either monthly, quarterly or every 6 months.
The sign up is easy. You can use either your Facebook account, or your email address to open an account. Showmax can be watched on many different devices.
5. You can create profiles – very important especially for kids.
You can create profiles for up to 11 people at the same time on one Showmax account. So, you can set up a profile with the things you like, and it will give you suggestions on what you can watch based on what you have watched before. You are also able to create profiles for your kids so that they only have access to age appropriate content.
What I like about this is that if you go off Showmax and come back on you can either go back to exactly where you stopped or start the movie again.
You can also use the watch list feature to save stuff that you want to watch later.
Here are the steps to create Profile.
- On the web or mobile apps, select “My Account” then “Profiles”
- Select “Add Profile” (or select a profile to edit)
- Enter a profile name
- Enter an optional numeric PIN – whenever this profile is selected, you’ll have to enter this PIN
- Select a parental control level – “Adults” is the default
6. Kids content
They have a lot of entertaining stuff for kids. As I said earlier I would pay for Showmax based on the fact that they have great stuff for kids to watch.
What they could do better
Their categorization of stuff is a mess. You can find stuff in a different category from where it is supposed to be. Like finding an action movie with no romance in it categorized under romance. Since people use the menu to look for movies in different categories it is very important to sort this out.
The other thing is I wish they had more current movies. Some of their movies are old, and you will find not a lot of current movies (I mean in the 5 year range. I know they can’t show current movies). They need to create a better catalogue based on the things that people like, I think they are doing well with the series but not with the movies. I hope as more people subscribe they will bring more relevant current movies.
Would I subscribe to Showmax? At the beginning, I wasn’t sold on it but after using it for 4 months I now see the benefits. The thing to remember is that you won’t find your current movies or series, but if you are looking to watch stuff you haven’t watched before, or rewatch stuff and not have to bother with DVDs please check it out. Try the trial 14 days and decide for yourself.
How much does Showmax cost compared to other similar services? Find out – ShowMax Launches In Kenya: A Comparison Of ShowMax And Other TV Content Providers
Featured image via Dstv.com
