This year marked the inaugural edition of DISCOP Africa, the sprawling continent’s first major content market, that took place February 25-27 in Dakar, Senegal (see related story on pg. 38). With the maturing of DISCOP East, which takes place in Budapest, Hungary in June, “emerging markets” seem to be the buzzwords on everyone’s lips lately. In fact, companies from all over the world are so full of expectations about breaking into emerging markets that a second DISCOP Africa has been scheduled for later in the year. But what does the term “emerging markets” actually mean for distribution companies, and which of these up-andcoming territories are they most focused on? Eric Muller, London-based Power’s Sales manager for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Africa, noted that his company has been doing business in the CEE region for years. For this reason, he doesn’t consider it to be an “emerging market” any more. Thus, Muller and company have turned their attention to Africa, which, TV-wise, is still very much an uncharted territory. According to Muller, “more or less the whole world has been covered [by the TV biz], and Africa, due to its political instability, is the last region left.” As such, Power was out in full force at DISCOP Africa, where, as Muller put it, he and his team were “keen on helping and supporting the market, and of course, looking for buyers.” Muller is confident that the result of DISCOP Africa will be the opening up of the African market, even more than DISCOP East helped to bolster the industry in CEE. “DISCOP East worked for CEE,” he said, “Because it helped bring in countries like Bulgaria and Romania that were difficult to access otherwise. But the need for DISCOP Africa is much greater.” Additionally, Muller said that the timing is perfect for an African TV boom. He explained that fiber optic cabling has finally reached a workable level in many countries, which will help bring TV to wider audiences. Perhaps most importantly, he remarked that Barack Obama’s election in the U.S. has gone a long way in creating a sense of optimism and “a synergy from all over the world,” that has brought people together in the common pursuit of establishing a modern African entertainment industry. Similarly, John Vandervelde, svp of Business Development and International Co-production for Toronto-based Cookie Jar, said his company also considers Africa to be the next frontier. While Cookie Jar’s biggest international business still comes from Western Europe — especially the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy, and France — Vandervelde explained that South Africa has done a lot to attract foreign TV distributors. “We are co-producing in South Africa right now,” he said, “And we’re pretty excited about the things the government has done to grow the TV industry. We’re also excited about getting the opportunity to help trigger that growth.” To attract companies like Cookie Jar, South Africa’s government has enacted a variety of tax incentives, including the Location Film and Television Production Scheme and the South African Film and Television Production and Co-Production Scheme. These programs give 15-35 percent rebates to productions with budgets over U.S.$1.5 million. It is programs like this, more so than DISCOP Africa, that have Vandervelde and company excited about doing business there, and Cookie Jar was not even in attendance at the Dakar event. For now, Vandervelde said his team is focused on their co-productions, but if DISCOP Africa turns out to be a mustattend, they’ll be there. Michelle Wasserman, head of Sales for Argentina’s Telefe, stressed: “The whole world is important. Small countries and big countries, emerging and not.” That said, Wasserman went on to explain that Telefe does most of its business in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, but is very interested in branching out to other territories. Where Africa is concerned, Wasserman said Telefe was excited about “increasing our presence in the region” through DISCOP Africa. “We’ve done some deals in Africa in the past,” she added, “But Telefe’s never really given the territory a serious look until now.” Wasserman went on to outline some of the changes the company has made to refocus its energy on Africa, including creating a position for a Sales executive devoted solely to the region. On the other hand, Wasserman, like Power’s Muller, pointed out that the “emerging market” moniker could no longer be applied to Eastern Europe. “It’s not an emerging market for us, but a main and very important one,” she said. “It’s our most important income source, and we’ve been working hard there since Telefe’s beginning.” New York-based AETN International was not in attendance at DISCOP Africa, but that doesn’t mean it’s not interested in the continent. Michael Katz, vp, Programming and Production, said that his company is interested in “just about all the international markets in the world,” including Africa. “Most of our African business is currently in the Sub-Saharan region,” Katz said, adding that he hopes AETN will be able to work with countries besides South Africa in the near future. Regarding Eastern Europe, Katz noted that his company has been doing business there since 2003 or 2004. In fact, the firm recently assigned an executive to the CEE region, much like Telefe did in Africa. He went on to remark that AETN programming works well all over the globe, due to its “broad palette of factual content.” Sub-Saharan Africa is also the next frontier for Miami-based Telemundo, according to executive Karina Etchison, who will be using MIP-TV to try to sell its novelas to South Africa. Though the overall consensus among the executives interviewed seemed to be that Africa is the hot emerging territory, it is by no means the only up-andcoming market that distributors will be focused on at MIP-TV (see related story on page 20). Firms such as Munich, Germany-based Studio 100 will also be zeroed in on buyers from such territories as the Middle East and Asia, a goal that appears to be perfectly in sync with MIP-TV’s conference program. Among this year’s seminar offerings are several panels addressing the on-the-rise industry in the Middle East, including “Middle East Market Overview” and “Middle East Television Co-Production Opportunities.” China, as the theme of this year’s market, will, obviously, be another sought after territory. However, coming off the momentum of February’s Dakar event, it will be difficult for other regions to top the buzz surrounding Africa. ES V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 36 F u t u r e M a r k e t s Distributors Tap Africa As Top Emerging Territory Cookie Jar’s John Vandervelde Telefe’s Michelle Wasserman
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