Login

Lost your password?

Sign Up

Register

Login

Login

Lost your password?

Register

Tuesday, May 24, 2022
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion

Africa's
Investment
Gateway

The Exchange
  • Login
  • Register
Subscribe
This Month's Edition
Previous Editions
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The Exchange
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The Exchange
LOGIN
Queen Sono was the first African script-to-screen to feature on Netflix. www.theexchange.africa

Queen Sono was the first African script-to-screen to feature on Netflix. [Photo/Netflix]

Global studios, streamers turn to Africa as bastion of entertainment

Tony Maroulis, a principal analyst for London-based Ampere Analysis says there are more than 1.4 million subscription video-on-demand users in Sub Saharan Africa. He projects the figure will grow to 2.4 million by 2026.

by Joseph Kangethe
January 31, 2022
in Africa, Investing
0
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn
  • The SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) market in sub-Saharan Africa generated revenue of roughly US$107 million in 2021.
  • Netflix is pushing growth in Africa as their market in North America has become stagnant, and growth in many territories, including Western Europe, is slowing.
  • Global studios and streamers’ investment in African content is part of a broader strategy to copy the successful Netflix model by producing local content for local audiences.

International content streamers are vigorously investing in Africa with the SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) market in sub-Saharan Africa generating roughly US$107 million in 2021.

Netflix, Disney, BBC Studios, Sony Pictures, Amazon, and several others are directing efforts to gain a foothold in a market that has proved to have a hysteria of localized content attracting local and global audiences.

The biggest challenge for Africa to produce thrilling global entertainment has been for a long time the lack of a realistic budget allocation to the creation, pre-and postproduction, and marketing of content.

However, the year 2022 bears a promise of the global media industry taking African content seriously.

Tony Maroulis, a principal analyst for London-based Ampere Analysis, says more than 1.4 million subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) users in Sub Saharan Africa. He projects the figure will grow to 2.4 million by 2026.

The SVOD market in sub-Saharan Africa generated revenue of roughly US$107 million in 2021.

Read: South Africa filmmakers head to USA on investment mission

Currently, the bulk of international investment in African content is in Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya, mainly because they have established film and TV industries and a large English-speaking population.

2021 saw a series of deals among African film and television producers with international studios and streamers.

EbonyLife partners with Netflix, BBC Studios, Sony Pictures Television and Westbrook Studios.

In 2020, Nigerian Tv pioneer Mo Adudu’s company, EbonyLife Media, shut down its television channel, which was available across the continent, to focus on the more lucrative business of production.

Ebony Life CEO signs a deal with BBC studios to produce the series Reclaim. www.theexchange.africa
Ebony Life CEO signs a deal with BBC studios to produce the series Reclaim. [Photo/Women and Hollywood]
EbonyLife was the first company in Africa to sign a multititle deal with Netflix for features (Oloture, Blood Sisters, Death and the King’s Horseman) and series (Castle and Castle, Nigeria 2099).

Mo Abudu says that he has been in the media industry for over 20 years, and it is only recently that he is seeing a “real explosion” and a “real tipping point” for the African continent. “The reality of the marketplace has changed,” he says.

The company has also set up a co-production with AMC for a thriller, Reclaim, which will kick off a co-production deal between EbonyLife and BBC Studios. The series is about a gang of art thieves looking to steal Nigerian works poached by the British Empire 125 years ago.

EbonyLife is also working on an action series, developed with Sony Pictures Television, about the historical all-female West African army, The Dahomey Warriors, an inspiration for the fictional Dora Milaje of Marvel’s Black Panther.

In 2021, EbonyLife signed a multi-project development plan with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios to produce African-based series and features. The deal successfully pitched Universal Studios and Will Packer Productions on a thriller based on the life of a Nigerian Instagram celebrity and alleged fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, otherwise known as Hushpuppi.

Netflix is currently the biggest streamer in Africa

Netflix accounts for more than half of the streaming subscriptions in the continent.

The South African film Queen Sono made history in 2020 by being the first script-to-screen African Original series to feature on Netflix. In the same year, Netflix released CapeTown’s teen drama series Blood & Water.

Netflix also signed a development deal with John Boyega’s UpperRoom Productions to produce non-English films set in West and East Africa.

Read: Netflix subscriber numbers plunge, stock collapses

Netflix is pushing growth in Africa as their market in North America has become stagnant, and growth in many territories, including Western Europe, is slowing.

Amazon signs deal with Nigeria’s Inkblot Studios and Anthill Studios.

In December 2021, Amazon signed two extensive licensing deals with Anthill Studios and Inkblot Studios. This marks Amazon’s first agreement with African production companies.

Anthill Studios is a film production, postproduction and animation studio and has produced features like Prophetess, Day Of Destiny and Elevator Baby. Its animation studio is reportedly the biggest in Nigeria.

The deals will give Amazon exclusive, global distribution rights to Anthills and Inkblot theatrical releases, made available to Prime Video, Amazon’s popular movies and TV shows site.

Prime Video will launch upcoming Inkblot films to its worldwide streaming audience. The features of Inkblot films include Moms at War 2, The Set Up 2 and New Money 3 and their new titles such as Charge and Bail, Superstar and The Blood Covenant.

Disney+ plans to launch in Africa in 2022

Disney set to release "Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire" anthology from African Creators. www.theexchange.africa
Disney set to release “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire” anthology from African Creators. [Photo/Syfy]
Disney+ plans to start content production from Africa in 2022, starting with South Africa.

Disney targets to partner with Triggerfish (a Cape Town-based animation house) to produce Kizazi Moto ( Generation of Fire). This 10-part animated series will feature short films by South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Egypt.

At the 2021 Annecy Animation Festival, Disney showcased a snippet of images for Iwájú, a sci-fi series produced by Kugali Media depicting Nigeria’s Yoruba culture.

“There’s been a tremendous change. Just three to four years ago, you would have struggled to sell an African film to a big international platform, and financing was always difficult,” says Kunle Afolayan, director and producer in Nigeria. “Usually, I would make one film in two years. Last year, I made two films in a single year.”

Global studios and streamers’ investment in African content is part of a broader strategy to copy the successful Netflix model by producing local content for local audiences.

Read: Kenya to tax YouTube, NetFlix and Google Apps

Tags: African film contentAmazonBBC StudiosDisneyDisney invests in AfricaEbonyLife MediaKizazi Moto: Generation FireNetflix in AfricaSony Pictures in Africa

STATE OF ECONOMY - GET THE REPORT

ASSESSING EAST AFRICA

Loading...

Joseph Kangethe

I am a journalist who is an enthusiastic tech, business and investment news writer from across Africa. There is always something good happening in Africa but most gets lost in the stereotypes. I tell the stories that matter to the Africans for Africa. Have a tip? You can contact me at [email protected]

Related Posts

www.theexchange.africa
Industry and Trade

Kenya’s hospitality sector performance improves thanks to international tourism

May 23, 2022
Angola: Huge Investment Opportunities in fossil fuels despite production decline in Africa. www.theexchange.africa
Investing

Angola: Huge Investment Opportunities in fossil fuels despite production decline in Africa

May 23, 2022
Investing

The business of Green Bonds in Africa

May 23, 2022
Next Post
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa speaking at the Tanzania-UK Trade and Investment Forum at the Julius Nyerere International Conference Center (JNICC) in Dar es Salaam. Photo by TPSF

Tanzania: Time to borrow, rates at all time low

South Africa's Superstar Banking Corporation, Capitec. www.theexchange.africa

South Africa’s Superstar Banking Corporation Capitec Bank Holdings

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The UK is the biggest beneficiary of Africa's trade governance inefficiencies. www.theexchange.africa

Is the UK planning on derailing Africa’s 1.3 billion-people trade agreement?

Please login to join discussion




This months edition

May Edition

Features

EdTech role in African development
Tech & Business

EdTech’s role in African development

by Kanyali Muthui
May 16, 2022
0

Due to the pandemic, the topic of innovation in education has never been more crucial.  While most developed countries moved...

Read more
investment in African science and technology
Tech & Business

Investing in Africa’s science and technology: Where are we now?

by Kanyali Muthui
May 16, 2022
0

The continent’s digital revolution can largely be driven by building the necessary skills for the short- and long-term future, and...

Read more
Fintech revolution in Africa
Tech & Business

The Fintech Revolution in Africa’s FX Markets

by Kanyali Muthui
May 11, 2022
0

With over 548 million registered mobile money users in sub-Saharan Africa, increased internet access and readily available mobile money solutions,...

Read more
www.theexchange.africa
Countries

US – Nigeria Trade Relations: An Overview

by Wanjiku Njugunah
May 2, 2022
0

Nigeria is currently the United States' 54th largest goods trading partner, with US$7.8 billion in total goods trade as of...

Read more
A previous conference for African Insurtech sector. The Insurtech boom is deepening insurance uptake in Africa. www.theexchange.africa
Tech & Business

Insurtech boom deepening the uptake of insurance in Africa

by june njoroge
May 2, 2022
0

Kenya-based Pula is another distinguished insurtech making waves in the continent. It provides small scale farmers with agricultural insurance and...

Read more

News

Banking
Industry & Trade
Investing
Money Deals
Regional Markets
Tech & Biz
Opinion

Countries

Kenya
Tanzania
Uganda
Burundi
Rwanda
Southern Africa
Ethiopia

More

My Account
Contact us
Advertise
About us
Help Center

Subscribers Center

E-paper
Premium Stories
Education Rates
Corporate Subscriptions
Weekely Newsletter

  • My account
  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Refund Policy – The Exchange
  • Sitemap

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart

© 2021 The Exchange - Powered by MediapixManaged by Supported by Digihandler,

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In