7 Streaming Sites Available For South Africans
Jacques du Rand 2020-05-05
How many streaming services can you name that are available to South Africans right now ?
Fibre Tiger recently launched its “TV Streaming and VPN” comparison service along its existing extremely popular broadband comparison service.
The new additions go hand in hand with our existing internet comparison offering since that is usually one of the first questions we get at Fibre Tiger:
“How much speed do I need to stream ?”
“Where can I stream from ?”
“I need WiFi for my family and we all like to stream”
“Which ISP should I choose for streaming ?”
By the way, that streaming requirement number is way lower than you think… It is only 5Mbps for HD quality if you are watching NetFlix. Source
The TV and internet streaming services in South African have really come a long way. We still don’t have the vast choice the rest of the world, especially Americans, enjoy, but most people will be pleasantly surprised at the amount of options available locally.
We list and compare seven locally available services and four international ones for completeness, with a total of 21 packages compared.
Local Availability with Rand Pricing
Most of the local streaming services are also priced and billed in rands (ZAR) every month, except Amazon Prime Video.Although it's officially available locally, their listing price is dollar denominated, we have built in ZAR-USD conversion that updates hourly to showcase all pricing info in rands (ZAR).
Subscription or Ad-hoc
Most services opt for a single price per month and all you can watch, but there are two services like Google Play (Yes, they have movies and tv-series as well as apps) that have no monthly charges, but you pay-as-you-use, which is basically the old DVD-store rental model. It works surprisingly well.
The International Options.
Many of the new services like Disney+, HULU or HBO are not yet available in South Africa or, like Netflix, have different content available for different regions of the world.
This region locked method is still very much a practise of the “old distribution model” where new content is released per region and/ or licensed per region. In our opinion it's an antiquated model and should be abandoned. Our previous research has shown that as broadband and streaming services become available to a region, software piracy and streaming piracy goes down. People are more than willing to pay to watch - just make it available at a reasonable price.
We did an infographic a few years back when NetFlix became available in South Africa. The data was clear from a Google Search Trend point of view:
As NetFlix usage went up… “Torrents” and “The Pirate Bay” searches went down
Ads Free
Some services by default are free (like YouTube), but did you know there is now a “YouTube Premier” version available in South Africa ?
This version removes all ads and in addition makes available to you some of YouTube's own original produced TV Series.
There is a new series about the old Karate Kid with the old actors ! It's called Cobra-Kai.
If nothing else, a YouTube Ads-Free experience is worth it !
VPN Listings (Virtual Private Networks)
We also launched a VPN comparison service. These privacy services are also priced in dollars, but we have up-to-date pricing in rand (ZAR) - updated hourly.
Right now we only have international VPN Companies, but would love to see a South African product up there soon. As a South African you can still get these services, just know you will pay in dollars with your credit card.
Why Do You Need a VPN ?
In one word - “Security”.. In two words.. Security & Anonymity (Privacy)
Better Security
The internet thieves and crooks have only become more sly and crafty over the years.
From trying to steal your banking info or personal information, or to pounce on you when you visit unencrypted sites or are vulnerable by making use of unsecured hotspots.
A VPN makes use of a high level of encryption to secure all communication between yourself and a website by placing a more secure, trusted third party between yourself and the website.
Better Anonymity
You may not always want the website you are visiting to know from which country you are. VPN allows you, with a click of a button, to choose whether you are browsing the site from the USA or Finland, or any country your VPN service offers a location point for.
These services also hide your IP-Address, basically your internet calling card and proof that you visited a site.
With VPN your ability to be tracked and marketed to is also greatly reduced ! In 2020 we are all like Hansel and Gretle - leaving a trail of “internet cookies” behind us everywhere we go digitally. These “cookies” are then used by the marketing firms to show you more and more personalized ads.
Public HotSpots
Although traveling (for most) is now non-existent. If you ever do go somewhere and there is a “public hotspot” - be it your local coffee shop or the airport waiting lounge - be sure to switch on your VPN ! These hotspots are notorious for being “personal information extraction” hot-spots !
By using a VPN while out in public is akin to pulling up your pants before you leave the house. It’s the right thing to do !
In the past, setting up a VPN has been the domain for the alpha-nerd in the family, but with these services it has become incredibly easy no matter your level of digital know-how ! Most VPNs have browser-extensions or phone apps. I dare propose that if you can play Candy-Crush, or have a fancy-browser-background plugin (Momento), you are more than skilled enough to make use of a VPN.
Did we Miss Any Services That You Currently Enjoy ?
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