Vodacom today announced the launch of the Video Play app. This clever app uses spare capacity on the Vodacom network to download and cache selected video content at a reduced cost.

You can pre-select the content you want to watch and it will be downloaded during low-demand periods, usually overnight. Once it's on your device, you can watch it offline as many times as you like without using any data.

Rather than billing you per unit of data, Video Play bills in minutes, not megabytes, making it easier to control and manage your spend. 

Watching a 10-minute HD video on YouTube can use up to 150MB – with Video Play, you'd only be billed for 10 minutes of video. It’s a clever way to watch uninterrupted video at a reduced cost.

How it works

Once you've installed the free app, you'll be able to access videos from producers like eNCA, eTV, Urban Brew and MobiTV. At launch, you can expect a selection of music videos, with a focus on gospel, local and African music. This is going to be expanded over time. 

After selecting the videos you want to watch, add them to your download queue. Video Play will manage the download of the content to your device overnight. Once downloaded, you can watch the videos offline.

Billing

You'll need to buy prepaid video bundles of minutes, available in the app, to use Video Play. There is no charge for browsing, only for the minutes of video you download. For example, if a three-minute video is downloaded only three minutes will be deducted from the video bundle. No other data charges apply.

At launch customers will be able to buy 30-minute bundles for R5. More bundles will be included in the future.

Availability

The Video Play app is currently available for free in the Android and BlackBerry app stores, with other platforms to follow shortly.

For more information please visit the Vodacom Video Play FAQ page.