Roughly one month ago I wrote the article The top three problems content consumers continue to grapple with which highlighted seclusion, versatility and bundled content currently prominent in content platforms such as Netflix, Showmax and others. If there is a platform that can solve these problems, then the content consumer will be able to extract maximum benefits a content provider can provide, and K24 Plus has positioned itself as one such content provider.
K24 Plus is a mobile app owned by Mediamax currently available on Google Play Store and Appleās App Store. It is Over The Top content application that allows users to only pay for what they like. The app brings the content from around the world either as Video on Demand or through live channels.
The Design
I know the first question many would-be asking is whether the app has the content the users are looking for. Coming to that part in a few but first, let us look at the design and the user experience. As they say, simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, and K24 Plus app is the hallmark of that. I find the app simple to use and straight to the point. On the Home page there is a Quick Access button, through it you are able to access all the content categories which include Box Office, Movies, TV Shows, Kids, Sports, Podcasts, DJ Mixes, Music, Live Radio, Live TV, News, Documentary.
At the bottom of the app, there are buttons for the Live Channels and the Account Information. For the Live Channels, there are Live TVs and Live Radios. 2021 is the year our Lord that some Kenyans online claimed that Twitter Spaces will kill radio stations, on the day 5,000 people joined Grand Mullah Twitter Space. Since then many people started their own Twitter spaces and getting over 500 people to join any space has been a challenge. My colleague Kenney Kachwanya who has worked with a number of Radio stations in Kenya as DW Akademie digital trainer in the last few years and understand the listenership numbers said that even a small community radio station covering a radius of 30Km area has more people listening to it than was supposed to kill radio stations. From that reality, it is time to mention that Radio still is king when it comes to passing information. I think having live radio as part of the app will bring a certain segment of users and I see it as a big plus for the app.
The account information menu at the bottom right side of the screen is an interesting one. It has Account history, how to Change Username /password, Help, Sign out and Exit App. Most of that is self-explanatory but I want to talk a little bit of what you would find under Help. Which are About US, FAQs and Contact Us. First, I think About Us and Contact Us are a bit misplaced and I hope the designers would go back and give this some thought. When you go to any website or an app, it is unlikely that one would be looking for About Us and Contact Us information under Help. My suggestion is that the two be moved to the main screen of the app. FAQs are perfectly placed and it answers so many questions that the users might be looking for. One more thing that is missing but I think would be important is an option for the users to send questions to the support team in case they are not able to find the answers under the FAQs.
Devices and Multiple Profiles
First K24 Plus is only available on smart devices that can download the app from the application stores like Google Play and Apple iOS Appstore. Essentially we are talking about phones and tablets. At the time of writing the team behind the app are still working on the version which will be able to run on smart TVs like Android. I also hope that in future they will have something for laptops. For example, those who have laptops with the latest Windows 11, which was released a few months ago. It allows users to run Android apps natively. Microsoft partnered with Amazon to integrate Amazon Appstore within Microsoft Store to enable downloading of Android apps on Windows 11 PCs. And it goes without saying that those using Mac Book are able to download the apps from the App Store.
As for how many devices one can use to access the app, K24 Plus accounts can only be accessed on one device that is registered to the mobile number used when signing up. The same goes for multiple profiles, it only allows one profile for each phone number used to register. Yeah, there is no sharing of passwords or accounts here.
The price and the Payment Method
The uniqueness of K24 plus is that instead of demanding monthly (or daily or weekly) subscriptions, movies on K24 plus are paid for per movie, with the latest blockbusters being charged at the rate of Kshs 150. This is way cheaper compared to what one would pay in theaters that charge from between Kshs 600 and Kshs 5,000 a ticket. Other than paying for a few select and most recent movies and TV Shows, there are enough free movies that are available as video on demand on K24 plus app. Meanwhile the app supports more than 20 free channels that provide variety of content ranging from music, news sports, and others. Talking of sports, did you know that starting from 9th January 2022, you can watch all the matches of the African Cup of Nations free on K24 Plus app? And yes, that just in the next few days. Get the app NOW. For Android here , and for iOS here
Most probably on Social Media and on the Billboard you have seen the tag āDo not Pay for what you do not likeā. For years we have talked about this, the idea that one needs to pay for only things they like to watch or see. Bundling everything together and forcing users and subscribers to pay for them even ones they do not need is unfair to some extent, but for a long time content providers have preferred it that way. Now we have a video on demand provider that has seen the light and it will be interesting to see how this go.
How about the pricing. Knowing Kenyans, this seems to be expensive to some extent especially if you consider the heavy consumers, who by the way, might not be that loaded. I am talking about the college-going kids, domestic workers and those who are in the jobless corner who might have enough time on their hands but would find it hard to afford to pay 150 for every movie or show. I hope with time MediaMax will find a way to bring down the price a little bit. But as already mentioned the big advantage is that one can pay only for the content they intend to watch, instead of being forced to pay for a monthly subscription that comes with bundled content most of which the viewer might not be interested in.
The other unique aspect of K24 plus is that payments are valid for 2 days. That is, after you have made your payment which is easily done via MPESA, you will have 48 hours to start watching the movie. The two-days expiry has been done so that people can only pay for movies when they are ready to watch. The same applies to TV Shows though at the time of writing this the TV Series available on the app can be watched for free.
Content
Finally, let me talk about the content. The structure, the design and the payment method are all on point but the ultimate user experience is all to do with the content they are looking for. It is still a work in progress but Media Max reprehensive mentioned that they have a deal with the big content providers which will enable them to have the Box Office movies and the TV shows immediately after the premier. Meaning they will have them ahead of all other Video On-demand competitors. I also like the fact that there is a music category. With music streaming being the in thing now, this is one category that I think might end up being the main deal for this app. The other interesting content to look for are the documentaries and the kidsā category
Conclusion
MediaMax has come up with a great app, just do not take my word head to the Google Play Store or iOS Appstore and download it. And please come back and give us your feedback once you have used the app.
