This past year has seen an explosion of business related opportunities for producers of content across Africa.
New festivals, markets and a host of related opportunities have presented themselves in 2017 in what can be seen as an endorsement of the African content industry.
Film festivals abounded across the continent in 2017. Established festivals continued to thrive across the continent with successful editions of The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), the bi-annual FESPACO, the Durban International Film Festival, the return of the Ethiopian Film Festival after a year’s hiatus, Encounters Documentary Film Festival, the Jozi Film Festival, Egypt’s Luxor Film Festival, and the AFRIFF Festival in Nigeria amongst others.
There were also new players added to the festival circuit this year with the inaugural editions of The Cape Town International Film Festival and the re-birth of Kalasha International in Kenya. Azam TV has also launched an interesting new broadcast film festival aimed at the Swahili Market, the Sinema Zethu International Film Festival.
East Africa’s industry is definitely on the rise, as 2017 also saw ZIFF host its first-ever film and content market, SOKO FILAM. The success of this event has, in-turn, led to the announcement of DISCOPs expansion into East Africa, with DISCOP Zanzibar to take place, in partnership with ZIFF, from 11 to 13 July 2018.
DISCOP Markets have also made their confidence in Africa’s content industry clear with the announcement not just of DISCOP Zanzibar for 2018, but also for DISCOP Lagos in 2019 in addition to their regular DISCOP Johannesburg and Abidjan events. The DISCOP team has also announced an Africa Pavilion at DISCOP Dubai, taking place from 25 to 27 February 2018 in response to the global demand for African content.
The explosion of new streaming and VOD platforms across Africa this past year has also been encouraging as many of these services have been actively seeking out African content. According to Balancing Act, there are about 180 VOD platforms across Africa including high-profile platforms such as Showmax, who this year as part of their sponsorship of ZIFF screened a host of ZIFF award-winning films and have continued to seek out African content.
This year also saw Iflix Africa and Econet Media team up to bring subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) services to sub-Saharan Africa. Econet Media have been very busy this year, also launching, through their African streaming video service Kwesé, a Roku-powered set-top box – called Kwesé Play – with an “exclusive” Netflix hardware partnership. Discover Digital has launched DEOD, a new South African video streaming service taking on Netflix and DStv, and of course, practically every mobile phone operator has also launched one kind of VOD or streaming service, with Cell C’s “Black” platform being the latest entry.
African content platforms targeted to the diaspora have also provided new opportunities with the most recent being the announcement of The Africa Channel’s offering to the US, Canada and Caribbean that will provide Africa-originated television series, specials, documentaries, movies, music, biographies and cultural and historical content.
Nigeria’s iROKOtv, that started as a subscription video on demand (SVOD) player and has also expanded its services to include a satellite TV channel, broadcasts ‘Nollywood’ movies and TV series to viewers across the globe.
Challenges obviously still exist, with all of these platforms being reliant on access to reliable and affordable internet access, which in most African countries is still a dream. However, what all of these developments do point to, is an awakening in the massive market for content that resides within the continent, and a realisation that quality, locally-made African content has the potential to explode.
The outlook then for 2018 is promising for African content producers who can create content that is relevant, regionally and internationally.
East Africa’s prospects look especially promising with a new (and welcome) focus on Swahili content for both film and TV, and with a host of new markets and festivals coming to the region.
Pan-African events such as DISCOP and others also are creating more and more opportunities for co-productions and cooperation, with a new vision of a pan-African distribution network becoming a possibility for content that can travel.
Content producers should take note of these trends and opportunities in order to be able to bring to life a world of African stories that Africa – and the rest of the world – are more than ready for.
Written by Lara Preston
