Privacy policy

1. Introduction

1.1. At Showmax, we know your privacy is a serious matter. We strive to ensure that our use of your personal data is lawful and reasonable, with the ultimate goal of improving our services and your viewing experience.

1.2. This Privacy Policy describes how your personal data is processed at Showmax when you use our websites, applications (including the Showmax App), products, platforms and services to browse or to access content, including when you are not registered or signed into our service. Here we also provide some ways for you to exercise control over your personal data, and to contact us if you have questions. The personal data will be processed by Showmax in accordance with the Privacy Laws applicable in the country of your residence.

1.3. Depending on the country of your residence and the relevant Showmax Service, the controller of your personal data is the following Showmax entity, each hereinafter referred to as “Showmax”:

1.3.1. If you reside in South Africa or Lesotho, the controller of your personal data is Showmax SA (Pty) Ltd (company registration number: 2022/672391/07), a company duly registered and incorporated in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa with its address at: 144 Bram Fischer Drive, Randburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2194, South Africa.

1.3.2. If you reside in Nigeria, the controller of your personal data is MSAT Nigeria Limited (company registration number: RC 480418), a company duly registered and incorporated in accordance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with its address at: Plot 1381 Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.

1.3.3. If you reside in one of the countries listed below, the controller of your personal data is Showmax Africa Holdings Limited (company registration number: 14402312), a company duly registered and incorporated in accordance with the laws of England and Wales with its address at: 1 Silk Street, London, England, EC2Y8HQ, United Kingdom:

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

1.3.4. We encourage you to read this policy completely so that you understand how we rely on personal data to create the best possible experience for you. We also use this policy to call your attention to the information about Cookies that help power our offerings from a technical perspective.

1.3.5. Should you have any questions regarding the processing of personal data by Showmax, you can contact our data protection officer at dpo@showmax.com.

1.3.6. Unless stated otherwise, defined terms have the meaning given to them in the Showmax Terms and Conditions that are available at https://showmax.com/terms.

2. What personal data do we collect?

2.1. Overview: We may receive and collect personal data about you in several ways, including when you download the Showmax App on your device; you sign up to use Showmax; you stream, download, access or make use of any Showmax Service or Content (including when you decide on selection of Content), you give us payment details, you contact our support centre, you participate in a marketing or promotion activity or you submit your personal data to us for any other reason.

2.2. We may also receive personal data from third parties that have obtained it from you and that are permitted to share it with us.

2.3. Categories of personal data when you are signed in to your Showmax Account: The categories of personal data of signed-in users that we collect include:

2.3.1. Registration and Showmax Account Information: Upon registration, you must provide your name and surname, email address, cell phone number, and password to create a Showmax Account. We also process the information that you provide in your Showmax Account, including your marketing preferences and other settings;

2.3.2. Subscription and payment information: We process information about your Subscription Plans and their duration. In relation to your payments for Subscription Plans, we also collect details of methods of payment, including but not limited to certain information about credit and debit cards, loyalty points, vouchers. If you choose to pay through a third-party partner (add-to-bill), we may also process information about your account with the third-party partner;

2.3.3. Viewing history and preferences: We collect information about the Content that you watch or interact with, including clips or trailers, content reviews, if available, and watchlists, for example titles and genre, searches, duration and number of streaming sessions, downloads, streaming and download quality. Based on the information about the Content that you watch, we may infer some data about you, e.g., your taste preferences based on your selection of Content;

2.3.4. Events: We collect certain information about your activities observed when you are accessing and using the Showmax Website, Showmax App or when you react to our marketing communications, including details of how, when and for how long you have accessed, viewed or used any of our platforms as well as details regarding site traffic and usage information (for example search queries, navigation behaviour and viewing time and duration), and, if enabled, voice commands processed through the Showmax App;

2.3.5. Support services information: We collect certain details of your interactions with the Showmax support centre (in case we can attribute the conversation to you), such as the date, time and reason for contacting Showmax, transcripts of chat, email or other conversations;

2.3.6. Cookies: We may also store certain information collected via the use of cookies, web beacons, advertising IDs and other technologies, including ad data. For more information on cookies please refer to the Cookies section of this Privacy Policy;

2.3.7. Device and Browser Information: When you access the Showmax Website or the Showmax App, we may also collect information about the device or browser accessing the Showmax Services, such as unique device identifiers, IP address, type, model, settings, operating system, system activity, language and crash reports;

2.3.8. Location Information: When you access the Showmax Website or the Showmax App, we may determine the geographical location of a device used to access Showmax Service based on your IP address or the bank institution issuing your payment method. Showmax does not use GPS geolocation and does not collect geolocation data, and consequently clause 8.2.2 of License Agreement is not applicable;

2.3.9. User Research Information: We collect certain details of your interactions with a Showmax User Research Surveys (in case you decide to contribute, which is completely voluntary), such as your evaluation of various aspects of the Showmax Service, your preferences regarding Showmax Service properties and your opinion and feedback on certain Showmax Service related questions;

2.3.10. Information you share with us on social media: If you reach out to use via our social media profiles or you enter into a competition that we organize, we will process the information available in your social media profile, in particular, your name, surname and email address, and any other information that you voluntarily share with us.

2.4. Categories of data when you are not signed in to Showmax Service: The categories of personal data of that we may collect when you are browsing the Showmax Website or the Showmax App without signing in include data referred to in the following sections: on Events (2.2.4), Cookies (2.2.6), Device and Browser Information (2.2.7) and Location Information (2.2.8).

2.5. Profile data: We allow the creation of profiles that can be linked to a single Showmax Account, whereby different Authorised Users (such as members of a family or household) can maintain their own profile and personal preferences distinct from those assigned to the main profile and other profiles linked to the same master Showmax Account. We process the name given to the profile (may or may not be a person’s first name) and their Viewing history (2.2.3).

2.6. Childrens’ data: You must be at least 18 years of age or older to create a Showmax Account. While individuals under the age of 18 may use the Showmax Service, they may do so only under the supervision of a parent or a guardian. It is possible to create a kids profile dedicated to a child by setting the appropriate Age Restriction in the settings of the profile. This will ensure that video playback is restricted for Content that is rated above the profile Age Restriction. We process the name given to the kids profile (may or may not be a child’s first name) and their Viewing history (2.2.3).

2.7. Voluntary provision of data: The provision of your personal data is voluntary but necessary to use some of the services offered by Showmax. Refusal to provide some of your personal data will make it impossible to use the Showmax Service or some of their functionalities, for example its websites, applications, products, platforms and services to browse or to access content, and will prevent Showmax from offering and performing such services.

3. For what purpose do we process personal data?

3.1. Overview: We use the information we receive and collect generally for the purpose of providing, promoting, maintaining, personalizing and improving our services, to develop new services, and to protect Showmax, our platforms, content partners and our users from fraudulent or illegal activity.

3.2. Purposes: Specific purposes for which we process your data include:

3.2.1. processing personal data necessary for the purposes of conclusion and performance of the agreement with you, including:

3.2.1.1. to establish and maintain your Showmax Account, and to authenticate your identity when accessing your Showmax account, to provide you access to the Content in line with your Subscription Plans and to settle payments for your Subscription Plans;

3.2.1.2. to provide you with the Showmax App and all its features, including its voice search function, if available;

3.2.1.3. to inform you about important changes to the Agreement between you and Showmax, including information about updates of Terms and Conditions and other important notices.

3.2.2. to understand your interests and personalize your viewing experience and to provide you with relevant recommendations for a unique selection of titles tailored exclusively for you based on your Viewing history and preferences (2.2.3); the processing of your personal data for this purpose is based on our legitimate interest.

3.2.3. to provide customer support services and to communicate with you, including through social media, and informing you about any changes to Showmax products and services; the processing of your personal data for this purpose is based on our legitimate interest;

3.2.4. processing of personal data in order to fulfil other obligations resulting from provisions of applicable laws, e.g., in the area of accounting and tax obligations;

3.2.5. to fulfil any contractual obligations with our business partners for the purpose of offering Showmax services and for the purposes of financial settlements connected there to, the processing of your personal data for this purpose is based on our legitimate interest;

3.2.6. processing of personal data for marketing of the Showmax Service, including direct marketing and targeted advertising based on your preferences and use of the Showmax Service (i.e., interest-based ads); the processing of your personal data for this purpose is based on our legitimate interest, or, where required, on your consent; in the settings of your Showmax Account, you may (i) manage your marketing preferences or unsubscribe from receiving marketing communication using the means provided in each instance of communication (e.g., the unsubscribe link), and (ii) opt out from receiving interest-based ads. 

3.2.7. processing for the purposes of research, testing, analytics, development, improvement (including user experience improvement and market research), administration, maintenance, technical support and security of the Showmax Service, Showmax Website and Showmax App, and the third-party technology provided by our service providers, and development of new products and services; the processing of your personal data for this purpose is based on our legitimate interest;

3.2.8. processing for the purposes of establishment, exercise and defence of legal claims, enforcing or investigating potential violations of our terms of use or any other actual or alleged fraudulent activities (including copyright infringement), protecting rights, property or safety of Showmax, our customers, employees and other third parties; the processing of your personal data for this purpose is based on our legitimate interest; and

3.2.9. processing for the purposes of reorganization of the Showmax group, including changes in ownership or control of assets, shares or management of Showmax, or that of our affiliates; the processing of your personal data for this purpose is based on our legitimate interest.

4. Who are the recipients of personal data

4.1. Your personal data may be disclosed to the following categories of recipients:

4.1.1. Showmax affiliates, which includes our holding companies, subsidiaries and entities that control or are under common control with Showmax, in particular when necessary for the ongoing maintenance and continued provision of the Showmax Service to you;

4.1.2. trusted service providers retained by us to enhance or provide the Showmax Service to you, acting at our instruction, including hosting services providers, platform provision, development and maintenance, support and security services providers, analytics tools providers, customer support services providers, payment and reconciliation services providers;

4.1.3. marketing services providers supporting us in promoting the Showmax Service, including marketing agencies, email distribution and other marketing tools providers, including targeted advertising, social media marketing services providers including Facebook and Google, as well as analytics services providers;

4.1.4. partners who may offer access to the Showmax Service on our behalf and/or partners with whom Showmax co-operates with respect to placing the Showmax App on their platforms;

4.1.5. third parties, including governmental bodies, courts or bodies of similar nature, when it is required in order to comply with applicable laws, to enforce or investigate potential violations of our terms of use or any other contract between you and us, to protect our rights, property or safety or that of our customers, employees, and other third parties; and/or

4.1.6. third party in relation to reorganization of the Showmax group, in particular a third party that acquires (or proposes to acquire) ownership or control of our assets, shares or management, or that of our affiliates by any means, or a third party from whom we acquire, ownership or control of assets, shares or management.

4.2. In case of cross-border transfers of personal data, Showmax takes legally required steps consistent with applicable Privacy Laws to ensure that the personal data is adequately protected in each such jurisdiction in particular by basing agreements with the relevant data recipients on the highest standard of data protection.

5. What are your rights?

5.1. Your data subject rights. You have the following rights with respect to your personal data processed by Showmax:

5.1.1. Access: You have the right to access your personal data. To request access to your personal data, please visit our Privacy Portal.

5.1.2. Rectification: You can ask us to have inaccurate personal data amended. You can change basic information about you on your own in your Showmax Account settings. Please note that if you enable the feature of enhanced security in your Showmax Account, you will be required to verify your identity before viewing or changing your personal data. For other rectification requests, please contact us via dpo@showmax.com.

5.1.3. Erasure: You can ask us to erase personal data. To request erasure of your personal data, please visit our Privacy Portal. Please note your request for erasure will result in the cancellation of your subscription which you will be notified of in advance. The scope within which we can comply with your request for erasure of personal data may be limited by our statutory obligations to store some personal data. We may also retain the personal data that is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of our legal claims.

5.1.4. Object to marketing: In the settings of your Showmax Account, we provide you with ability to express your preferences with respect to receiving marketing communication from Showmax. You can also opt out from receiving marketing communication using the means provided in each instance of communication (e.g., the unsubscribe link). Please note that it may take a few days for this request to be processed. You cannot unsubscribe from transaction or service administration related communication. In addition, you may opt out from receiving interest-based ads. You can also manage your preferences regarding the use of cookies and sharing of your data with our trusted partners for marketing and advertising purposes.

5.1.5. Object to other processing: You can object to processing of your personal data based on the legitimate interest of Showmax unless we have a valid ground to continue processing the data. In the settings of your Showmax Account, you may opt out from processing of analytics data and data from your account for the purpose of improving Showmax’s products and services. If you wish to object to any other processing based on our legitimate interest, please submit your request via dpo@showmax.com.

5.1.6. Portability: You can ask us to receive your personal data that you provided to Showmax in machine-readable format or have such data transmitted to a third party. To request your personal data to be ported, please visit our Privacy Portal.

5.1.7. Restriction: You may also request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, in particular if you believe that the processing is unlawful, or your data is inaccurate. To request restriction of processing, please contact as via dpo@showmax.com.

5.2. Withdrawal of consent. In some situations, we may seek your consent for processing. In such case, you have the right to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

5.3. We may ask for additional information from you to be able to identify you, including a proof of identity. 

5.4. Complaints: You can raise a complaint about our processing with the data protection regulator in your jurisdiction. If you find it difficult to contact the data protection regulator, we will help you. Please contact us via dpo@showmax.com for this purpose.

6. How long do we store data?

6.1. Data Retention Principles: We process your personal data during your subscription and following the end of your subscription to the extent that the data is necessary for the purposes with respect to which we are permitted and/or required to process data, including for the following purposes:

6.1.1. compliance with obligations resulting from applicable laws to which Showmax is subject;

6.1.2. establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims as well as for the purposes any other legal proceedings or compliance with any judgments and/or decisions issued by public authorities;

6.1.3. research and analytics; and

6.1.4. marketing of Showmax products and services.

6.2. Data retention Principles with respect to consent: As outlined in clause 5.2, we might be processing your data on the basis of consent. In such event we process data only as long as the consent is valid and to the extent that the data is necessary for the purposes with respect to which we are permitted and/or required to process data.

6.3. Where appropriate we will encrypt, pseudonymize, anonymize and/or segregate information so that we may make use of it in a manner that avoids unnecessary identification, in the interest of protecting your privacy and enhancing security practices.

7. Security

Maintaining the security and integrity of your personal data is a high priority and we endeavour to maintain appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure the integrity of information, using accepted technological standards to prevent unauthorized access to or disclosure of your personal data and to protect them from misuse, loss, alteration or destruction.

8. Cookies

8.1. In order to ensure that the Showmax Website, Showmax App and Showmax Service work properly, to provide you with a personalised experience, we and certain of our third-party service providers may set cookies or similar technologies such as in particular web beacons, SDKs, pixels and advertising identifiers (together hereinafter referred to as “cookies”) on your device, subject to your consent where relevant. A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the website. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as session status, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another.

8.2. The Showmax Website uses two basic cookie types: session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies are temporary files stored on the user’s end device until the user logs out, leaves the website or closes the software (web browser). Persistent cookies are stored on the user’s end device for the time specified in the parameters of the cookies or until deleted by the user. All persistent cookies are deleted within 13 months from their placing on the device.

8.3. In many cases, the default settings of the web browsing software (web browser) enable cookie storage on the user’s end device. You can delete or block cookies from being set in your web browser settings or relevant software. Cookies set by Showmax will likely be labelled as first party cookies, and those set by our partners will be labelled third party cookies. You can learn more information about our partners with whom the data collected by cookies are shares by clicking on the link Cookie Preferences included in the appropriate footer of the Showmax Website or the settings of your Showmax Account. Certain parts of the Showmax Website, the Showmax Service or the Showmax App may not work properly if first party cookies are blocked or deleted.

8.4. The types of cookies and the purposes for which they are used on the Showmax Website and the Showmax App include:

8.4.1. Strictly necessary cookies, which are required for the functionality of the Showmax Service, including security and fraud prevention, and to enable the purchasing process. Use of these cookies does not require your consent. If you set your browser to block these cookies, some parts of the Showmax Service may not function properly.

8.4.2. Cookies for ensuring security, preventing fraud and debugging which help us monitor and prevent fraudulent activities and ensure that systems and processes work properly and securely. Use of these cookies does not require your consent.

8.4.3. Cookies for storing and/or accessing information on a device, which help us and our partners to store or access cookies, device identifiers or other information on your device. Use of these cookies is subject to your consent..

8.4.4. Cookies for personalised ads and content, measurement, audience insights and product development. Use of these cookies is subject to your consent. You can choose to consent to individual sub-categories of purposes, including (i) showing ads on third party websites based on the content you are viewing, the app you are using your approximate location, or your device type (basic ads), (ii) creating a profile about you and your interests for the purpose of suggesting relevant Content to you, (iii) suggesting Content based on a profile created about you, (iv) creating a profile about you and your interests for the purpose of showing relevant ads to you, (v) showing relevant ads based on a profile created about you (vi) measuring the performance and effectiveness of the Content you watch or interact with, (vii) measuring the effectiveness of ad performance, (viii) conducting market research (ix) developing and improving our products. 

8.5. You will set your cookie preferences upon your first visit to the Showmax Website, the Showmax Service or the Showmax App. You can manage your cookie preferences and thereby withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on the link Cookie Preferences included in the appropriate footer of the Showmax Website or the settings of your Showmax Account. 

9. Changes to this policy and final provisions

9.1. We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do so, we will post the revised policy on Showmax and will inform subscribers of such amendments and of their effective date.

9.2. In case of discrepancy between this Privacy Policy and the Licence Agreement, the provisions of this Privacy Policy will prevail.

9.3. This Privacy Policy may be provided in several languages. In case of any discrepancy, the English version shall prevail.

9.4. If you have any questions relating to this Privacy Policy or the processing of your personal data, please reach out to us at dpo@showmax.com.