BY BOB JENKINS The inaugural DISCOP Africa pulsed with a beat that was both African and optimistic. VideoAge attended all three days of the Dakar, Senegal market to discern why it seems like Africa’s day has finally dawned, what the market looked like, what programming was hot and how much one can expect to be paid for content. In the eyes of many executives interviewed for this story, the arrival of DISCOP Africa marked the recognition that a new day is dawning for the African audiovisual business. Let’s start with the figures: The 437 delegates attending the market, including 170 buyers from 36 different counties, and representing 29 public channels, 62 private channels and nine pay-TV platforms, greatly exceeded the expectations of the organizers — Parisbased Basic Lead in association with NATPE of Los Angeles. Let’s now move to the facts: The first day of the market, on February 25, was dedicated to a series of panel discussions and debates addressing some of the key issues facing the continent’s audiovisual business, as well as providing fascinating insights as to where the business in Africa is right now. Russell Southwood of U.K.-based technology company Balancing Act provided some revealing insights as a result of a study his company recently carried out. Overall, penetration of television sets in Africa is low at 17 percent. However, as might be expected of a continent the size of Africa, this bald statistic hides a wealth of differences. South Africa accounts for 16 percent of all the sets on the continent and the wealthiest 15 markets between them claim 75 percent of the continental total. Despite these figures, one of the impetuses behind the perceived potential is in fact technology — digital is arriving in a big way. There has been a huge explosion in the number of satellites and in the very near future the whole of the continent will be wired. Indeed, Euan Fannell, CEO of Kenya’s Wanachi Group, told the delegates that his company is close to completing the building of a three terabyte (capacity) cable along the whole of the African East coast, and plans soon to introduce Africa’s first triple-play offer: Internet, HDTV and VoIP. Eventually, he hopes that the service will have 91 channels offering African, English and Asian content. And this is in Kenya, a country that already boasts 16 broadcasters. This story of growth is one that is repeated all over the continent. And it is not difficult to see why. Bernard Azira, director general of Ivory Coast distributor Cote Ouest, by far the largest in West Africa, representing MGM, Disney, Sony Pictures Universal and Brazil’s TV Globo, estimated that, “as a result of the arrival of digital, it is now possible to start a station in the region for around U.S.$200,000.” And while some problems do remain, especially piracy, which Azira described as, “like AIDS, cancer and Parkinson’s all rolled into one for this business,” Balancing Act’s Southwood believed some positive signs are apparent in this regard. He pointed to the recent seizure of equipment from Lagos-based broadcaster Multimesh by the authorities in Nigeria. And he went on to insist it be put in perspective. “The Cable And Satellite Broadcasting Association Of Asia,” he pointed out, “put losses to piracy for 2007 at U.S.$1.5 billion, excluding China, far less than any figure for Africa. So, if African figures scare you,” suggested Southwood, “maybe you would be better off just staying at home.” So what is this booming African market looking for, and how much will it pay for it? Overwhelmingly, the most popular content is sport, and for most of Africa, this means football (soccer). For the most recent deal involving the English Premiere League, Nigeria paid a reported U.S.$28 million for one season. But Southwood estimated that, “as a general rule, prices vary between $300-$500 per hour, with exceptional premium product going as high as $2,000 per hour.” He put this into context, estimating the production cost for South Africa’s morning TV show as $7,000 per hour, a one-hour primetime drama in Kenya costs around $10,000 per hour, and a Namibian soap comes in at around $13,000 an episode. Other than football, the most popular genre on a continent-wide basis is the telenovela, although Daro’s Pierre Rochat, whose Monte Carlo-based company represents Fox, the BBC, TF1 and CBS in the region, said that, “any series or movie with a black or predominantly black cast will sell well continent-wide, and that sitcoms are definitely making a comeback after a period when they fell out of favor.” Another genre Rochat fingered is animation. “There is a big demand for animation,” he insisted, adding, “which we are well placed to serve as we also represent Canada’s Cookie Jar, which, following its recent acquisition of Los Angeles-based DIC, is now a very big Cookie Jar indeed!” British subject Bill Peck, consultant to Star Media Group Russia, also reported a strong demand for documentaries at the market, especially historical ones, adding, “I have been very impressed with the sophistication of the buyers I have met here who are definitely only interested in the highest quality content.” Peck also went on to praise: “the first rate organization of the market itself, and the intimate, family atmosphere it generated.” However, while Rochat said that Africa, with the sad exception of South Africa, is likely to escape the worst, if not all, of the consequences of the current economic downturn, it will be a while before the continent is in a position to do very much in the way of formatting. “Formats,” said Rochat, “are difficult. Not impossible, but difficult because not many broadcasters can really afford them.” One of the ways in which content suppliers have sought to overcome problems arising from broadcasters’ inability to pay for programming has been barter, but this is a system that now divides opinion starkly. Although still prevalent, there are those that consider it is too addictive and that broadcasters have a tendency to become dependent on “free programming.” However, the optimism was so palpable at the inaugural DISCOP Africa that virtually all of the channels were talking in terms of local production. In this regard, Africa is just like the rest of the world and local tends to be more popular than acquired content. In the panel sessions some of the pay operations were even talking of localizing the most popular content in Africa, football, by investing in building the local leagues and developing the undoubted talent to produce players of international standing that are playing in Africa. It is true that it is still early days for the African audiovisual industry, and that much remains to be done, and there is great potential for pitfalls along the way. But it was difficult to leave Dakar at the end of the first DISCOP Africa without a sense of optimism, and also of anticipation for the second DISCOP Africa, slated for Nairobi, Kenya 16 -18 September ’09. However, the question remains: Why now? After all, Africa has been here for considerable time, so what has changed to make “now” the moment for the continent to finally realize its potential? One answer could be that Africa is a continent rich with natural resources and equally ready to take advantage of that wealth. But the caveat is that all that richness is also generally referred to as the region’s “commodity curse.” BJ V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 38 D I S C O P A f r i c a Witnessing The Birth Of Many TV Nations African buyers at the DISCOP market
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