Follow CGSP on Social Media

Listen to the CGSP Podcast

With 62 Million Subscribers in Africa, Chinese-owned Music Streaming Giant Boomplay Now Wants to Go to Europe

by Eric Olander
Advertisement for Transsion Holdings, parent of the popular Tecno line of phones in Africa, music service Boomplay that is a joint venture with fellow Chinese company Netease and is now the most popular streaming music service in Africa. Photo via Transsion Holdings

Boomplay is the unrivaled champion of Africa’s streaming music market with more than 62 million subscribers across the continent.  The Nigeria-based, Chinese-owned company utterly crushes the competition, especially global market leader Spotify that is only available in just five African countries. 

Boomplay is a joint venture between Shenzhen-based mobile giant Transsion Holdings that equally dominates the African mobile market with 50+% market share, and Chinese online internet behemoth Netease.

Lead the Conversation on China

Subscribe Today to Get Full Access to The China-Global South Project

Check Out Everything You'll Get With Your Subscription

The China-Global South Daily Brief delivered to your inbox at 6AM Washington time

Full access to exclusive news and analysis from editors based in the Global South

Transcripts of CGSP’s twice-weekly podcasts

Students and teachers with a valid .edu email address are eligible for a 50% discount off monthly or yearly subscriptions. Email us to receive a discount code.

You Might Like

Consortium of Chinese Smartphone Makers Launch New Effort to Challenge Google’s Play Store’s Dominance

Four of China’s largest smartphone makers have launched a new initiative to build an alternative app marketplace to challenge the dominant Google Play store. Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo have come together to form ...

5,600kgs of Ethiopian Coffee Sells Out in Just 5 Seconds on Alibaba’s Livestream

When Ethiopian ambassador to China Teshome Toga agreed to join online influencer Li Jiaqi on a livestream on Alibaba’s mega e-shopping platform T-mall to sell Ethiopian coffee, he no doubt imagined that he would ...

Huawei’s Mobile Handset Business Still Has Some Life Left in It… Pretty Much Only in South Africa Though

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei held on to a respectable 25% share of the South African market last year despite the fact that it no longer sells handsets with Google’s Android operating ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

Subscribe