Canal+ has stated its target clearly and publicly: eight Canal+ Original series per year from all over Africa, to be distributed worldwide. Since 2018, Canal+ has produced 35 Canal+ series with African talent in 11 different African countries, including Invisibles, Agent, Cacao, Mami Wata, Ekwi, Or Blanc, Niabla, Ewusu and Lakantane. The track record is real. The ambition is stated. The industry should take both seriously — and interrogate both.
Thirty-five originals across eight years averages just over four per year. The target of eight per year represents a doubling of the historical output. The announcement of this target coincides precisely with Canal+’s acquisition of MultiChoice, the closure of Showmax, and the company’s stated pursuit of €250 million in cost savings across the enlarged group. These facts sit in tension with each other. A company simultaneously doubling its African original content target and cutting €250 million in costs is making a structural claim that RollCallAfrica wants to examine.
What 35 Originals in 11 Countries Actually Looks Like
The Canal+ African originals catalogue is not evenly distributed across the continent. Côte d’Ivoire appears multiple times — Invisibles, Cacao, Niabla, Or Blanc. South Africa appears with Agent and Spinners. Gabon with Ekwi and Mami Wata. Cameroon with Ewusu. Senegal with Lakantane. Nigeria — Africa’s largest television market and the continent’s largest film industry — is absent from this list. East Africa is absent. The Maghreb is largely absent. The 11 countries are real but they do not represent the continent’s full creative geography.
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Eight per year from all over Africa is a qualitatively different commitment if “all over Africa” means genuine pan-continental commissioning — Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, alongside the established Francophone territories — versus a modest geographic expansion of the existing Francophone-dominant pipeline. The distinction matters for the industry. RollCallAfrica will be tracking which territories Canal+ commissions from as the eight-per-year target begins to be delivered.
The Two Franchises and What They Signal
Canal+ Africa has identified Spinners and Shaka iLembe as its two golden goose franchises to sell to streaming platforms globally. Both are South African. Both are from the Anglophone Southern African tradition rather than the Francophone West African tradition that has historically been Canal+’s primary production territory. That both of Canal+’s flagship global franchise titles are South African tells you where the company believes the most commercially translatable African content lives — which is both commercially astute and geographically limited as an editorial position.
The ambition of a pan-African eight-per-year target needs to be tested against the reality that Canal+’s two most commercially ambitious series are both from one country. The continent’s most commercially developed film and television market — Nigeria — remains outside the Canal+ originals ecosystem in any significant way. Closing that gap is the most consequential editorial decision Canal+ could make as it scales its African pipeline. Whether it makes it will be the defining question of African premium television commissioning in the next three years.
What the Industry Should Ask
Three specific questions that RollCallAfrica is holding Canal+ to account on as the eight-per-year commitment develops: First, what is the per-territory breakdown of the eight annual commissions? Second, what are the editorial independence conditions for commissioned series — specifically whether the Canal+ originals process gives showrunners the creative latitude that Showmax’s most distinctive commissions required? Third, what is the minimum guarantee structure for African producers entering the Canal+ commissioning system, and how does it compare to what Showmax offered?
The answers to those three questions will determine whether Canal+’s eight-per-year target represents a genuine expansion of African television’s commissioning infrastructure or a consolidation of it. Both are possible. The industry should not assume which one it is.
Sources: Variety (October 2025 — Spinners S2 announcement), Htxt (October 2025), Variety (March 2026 — Showmax/Canal+ analysis). — Lerato Dlamini. RollCallAfrica, May 2026.
