Showmax is the best place in Africa to stream international drama, according to last night’s Emmy Awards, held at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
In all, content on Showmax picked up 29 awards – well ahead of Netflix’s 22.
The HBO Originals Succession, The Last of Us and The White Lotus were the three most-nominated shows going into the Emmys, and they combined to give Showmax a clean-sweep in all the key drama categories.
The fourth and final season of the family business drama Succession took home Outstanding Drama Series, Writing (Jesse Armstrong), Directing (Mark Mylod), Lead Actor (Kieran Culkin), Lead Actress (Sarah Snook), and Supporting Actor (Matthew Macfadyen); the sex-themed second season of The White Lotus picked up Outstanding Supporting Actress (Jennifer Coolidge), and the post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us completed the clean sweep for Showmax with the Outstanding Guest Actor (Nick Offerman) and Guest Actress (Storm Reid) prizes.
If Succession was the biggest drama winner last night, The Last of Us was the biggest winner overall at the previous weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, taking home craft awards for Main Title Design, Picture Editing, Prosthetic Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Special Visual Effects.
The White Lotus was joint second at the Creative Arts Emmys, with wins for Outstanding Casting, Contemporary Hairstyling, Music Composition, and Music Supervision.
Other Emmy winners on Showmax include:
• The HBO Original David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, which won Sound Editing and Sound Mixing (Nonfiction)
• The HBO Original drag-themed reality series We’re Here, which won Outstanding Costumes and Hairstyling
• Peacock’s murder of the week series Poker Face, which won Outstanding Guest Actress (Comedy) for Judith Light
• The HBO Original House of the Dragon, which won Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes
• The Starz Original Blindspotting, which won Outstanding Choreography
• The HBO Original Barry, which won Stunt Coordination (Comedy)
• The HBO Original The 100 Foot Wave, which won Outstanding Cinematography (Nonfiction)
• The HBO Original A Black Lady Sketch Show, which won Outstanding Picture Editing (Variety)
Watch:
Succession wins Outstanding Drama Series:
Mark Mylod wins Directing for Succession:
Sarah Snook wins Lead Actress as Shiv Roy in Succession:
Matthew Macfadyen wins Supporting Actor as Tom Wambsgans in Succession:
Jennifer Coolidge wins Supporting Actress as Tanya McQuoid in The White Lotus:
The Emmys wins are just the latest in a string of accolades for content on Showmax.
At the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards earlier in January, Succession similarly picked up Best TV Series: Drama, as well as Best Actor (Culkin) and Actress (Snook), with Macfadyen also winning Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes.
At The Black Reel Awards, A Black Lady Sketch Show won Outstanding Variety, Sketch or Talk – Series or Special; The Best Man: The Final Chapters won Outstanding Directing and Music Supervision; and The Last of Us won Outstanding Guest Performance for Storm Reid.
Showmax is also home to IMDb‘s Most Popular Series of 2023 and Google’s most searched TV show of last year (The Last of Us), MetaCritic’s best-reviewed new series of 2023 (Rain Dogs), and the most searched series on Google in South Africa last year (Shaka Ilembe).
Following a game-changing deal between MultiChoice and Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky, Showmax is relaunching soon, with a refreshed brand and a massive content lineup, all delivered on a powerful new streaming platform.
The new Showmax, powered by Peacock, will become available in app stores from 23 January 2024, as part of a staggered migration process across 44 markets. Existing Showmax customers will begin receiving communication with information on how to access the new app this week and by 12 February 2024, the new Showmax will be live in all markets.
On 13 January, Peacock’s exclusive AFC Wild Card Game became the biggest live-streamed event in US history, reaching a record 16.3m concurrent devices. In 2023, Comcast won a Technology and Engineering Emmy for its sports viewing experiences across Peacock, Sky and Xfinity.
