1. State of the market: Where
African broadcast and film
has come from and where it’s
going - Africa's multi-screen
multi-channel future
Russell Southwood, Balancing Act
www.balancingact-africa-com
@BalancingActAfr

2. African TV Broadcasting:
 Where are we now? Business, hobby or political
patronage?
 Examples of the breed: Compare to newspapers in
1960s Britain. Calling card and access. Barter and grey
areas.
 Case study: Cameroon (Population: c20 million)
 4-5 main players, 15 players overall
 Estimated total advertising spend: US$39-58.5 m per
annum
 Estimated 40% spent on TV; 35-50% discount on rate
card with forward payment, sponsorship deals
 Estimated US$15.6-23.4 m on TV advertising
 Work elsewhere. 80% of advertising goes to main
players.
 Remaining 10 stations share estimated US$3.12-4.68
m

3. Seeing the future
 The things you know: Price of
Internet bandwidth falls, numbers using
goes up. Underlying logic obvious.
• The thing you don’t know: What future
scenario specialists call the the
“wild cards”
• Going to look at both in 5 areas

4. Three different types of viewer
 Lean-back viewers: Happy to be presented with
something to watch in the evening. May even stay with
a single channel for much of the evening. Who controls
the remote? Not passive (see 1980s BRU research) but
not completely active. In the home
 Social media viewer: Uses several devices while
watching. Comments on programme while watching.
Likes the conversation.
 Lean forward viewer: TV not always the first choice.
Looks at You Tube, Vimeo or wherever. Takes
recommendations from social media and friends. More
solitary. Uses laptop or tablet anywhere.
 Underlying logic: Time-based channels become a form
of marketing for watching across multiple devices.The
nation at prayer to the church of your choice

5. Country Aug-10 Apr-11 Oct-11
Dec-11 May-12 Jun-12 Oct-12
South Africa 3.1 million 3.8 million 4.4 million 4.8 million 4.7 million 4.96 million 6.5 million
Nigeria 1.7 million 2.9 million 3.8 million 4.3 million 4.6 million 5.86 million 6.7 million
Kenya 864,760 1.03 million 1.3 million
1.29 million 1.39 million 1.4 million 1.97 million
Ghana 621,000 906,540 1 million
1.14 million 1.24 million 1.28 million 1.67 million
Senegal 299,340 447,840 578 880
620,260 660,080 665,880 678,420
Uganda 196,000 280,600 330,780
346,980 206,100 414,260 532,920
Tanzania 141,580 259,120 352,000
414,540 497,940 518,460 676,420
Botswana 86,060 112,180 138,140
167,180 218,100 223,660 286,740
Angola 63,860 112,180 277,640
322,300 421,960 433,520 597,460
Zambia 56,640 117,520 157,760
177,820 228,940 235,700 320,280
Malawi 46,660 79,040 95,820
112,100 134,700 139,540 209,300
Namibia 15,100 127,260 123,820
134,149 84,100 172,400 231,720
Sierra Leone 8,780 34,100 44,760
48,520 57,080 58,040 73,680
)

6. 1. Not everybody’s watching TV -
Online: Social media, downloads,
etc
 You Tube in Top 10 of all African countries tracked by Alexa.com
despite awful bandwidth. iROKO
 Growth of VoD platforms: iROKO, Buni TV, Afrinolly, MyTVAfrica,
Wabona and Waabeh
 Mobile as a media – Deal and payment issues to be resolved
 Two impacts: Cuts across the time-based programme template.
18-35 yr olds Internet savvy. Will look for and download. No
stats on peer-to-peer but out there
 It all takes time. Either simultaneous with TV or in competition
with it.
 Underlying logic: Compete by offering something on all
platforms

7. 2. Local, local, local
 The local production conundrum: Most programming rights
costs on avg US$200-500 per hour Expensive end: $1-
2,000.
 Cost of locally produced drama by TV channel: $9,000 Less
if produced independently. US$10-15,000 in-house.
Between 20-80% of TV is local. Local content quotas
 Convincing either the major players in the market or the
challengers (eg Citizen TV, Nation’s swahili channel) Some
channel opportunities for those with catalogue (Bob TV’s Q)
 Public broadcasters – Always element of commissioning
 Secondary (Mobisodes, Repeats, Sales elsewhere on
continent)
 Underlying logic: Co-productions and international sales

9. 3. Time-based to themed channels
 In the most liberalised markets, the number of FTA channels
might double or triple. Already the number of pay TV channels
has doubled or tripled in main markets.
 The standard 1970s model of TV programming remains the
default template
 News – Other stuff – News – Other stuff – News – Prime time-
News-Other stuff.
 TV broadcaster as taxi service – Pay to be on my channel
 Low levels of programming innovation and lack of differentiation
– standing news readers. Mass to niche programming
 Pay TV programming raises viewer’s expectations
 Underlying logic: Need to be different. Themed channels

10. State of the digital transition

11. 4. The digital transition – soon
come
 From mass audiences (aimed at everybody) to clearly
defined target audiences to niche audiences
 Some part of the success of vernacular radio can be
replicated in TV
 New DTT signal carriers should offer all channels the
opportunity to get wider coverage, no longer just the
Government channel. Will impact commercially on them
 TV coverage largely mirrors electricity access coverage.
Need to look at ways of addressing both issues
 Delivering in TV to remote areas by satellite and fibre?
(customs post gets broadband connection. Deliver in TV
signal?)
 Underlying logic: From clearly defined target audiences to
niche audiences (300,000-500,000) eg Kenyan golf lovers

12. 5. Online video everywhere
 LTE will be the accelerator of video use. Already 5+ LTE
implementations but at least a dozen by end 2013. One does
it, everybody has to do it
 Smile Communications in Tanzania & Uganda: Actual speed
of 6 mbps. Major use shift.
 Early indications of likely uses: Consumer video, video
conferencing (Skype), high-end graphic and video transfers
 Africa will play its part in solving the handset problem by
generating demand
 Underlying logic: Video available on all devices

13. Tablets (<1%) $136-495
Smartphones
(<1%-20%)
>$100-400
Featurephones (10-
20%) US$60-100
Basic phones (60-89%)
$40-50
Now

14. Tablet (1-
3%) $100-
300
Smartphones
(3-20%) $70-
300
Featurephones (20-
30%) 460-80
Basic phones (47-76%)
$40-50
3-5
years
time
Exc South Africa:
80% prediction

15. What Other People Watch African Film Emerging social media
Emerging Online Digtal Advertising Emerging Technology

16. Balancing Act
 Consultancy and research
 Reports: Analogue to digital migration in Africa-Strategic
choices and current developments (Out soon)
 3nd edition of African Broadcast and Film Markets (Before end
of 2013)