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SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
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DISCOPLINK
PUBLISHER
BASIC LEAD
EDITOR IN CHIEF
BOB JENKINS
EDITORIAL
WELCOME TO NAIROBI !
Thank you for joining us in Nairobi for this 4th DISCOP AFRICA market.
CHIEF SUB EDITOR
LESLIE GREENHOW
In less than two years since its inaugural edition, DISCOP AFRICA brought together over 300 companies
DEPUTY EDITOR CEE
RATISLAV DURMAN
distribution throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
from 59 different countries, eager to buy and sell television programs and packaged TV channels for
When we first decided to launch DISCOP AFRICA, critics said that it was too early to expect any business
DEPUTY EDITOR MIDDLE EAST
PASCALE KAZAN
out of this part of the world, but our participants’ dedication have proved them wrong.
For many early advocates of emerging markets - such as the DISCOP Organization founded 20 years ago - the
PRODUCTION MANAGER
AURELE RIVET
speed at which the Sub-Saharan African television marketplace has grown in the last two years is emblematic
ART DIRECTOR
CAROLYN HONDA
In these world regions, the abundance of low-cost digital and broadband video services, unparalleled
of how international distribution business in emerging markets has evolved since the 2008 crisis.
mobile penetration, and still solid growth in television advertising expenditures has created distribution
SALES DIRECTOR
TATJANA PAVLOVIC
SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER
VLADIMIR GRAYVORONSKIY
RESEARCH MANAGER
URSZULA PERZANOWSKA
and revenue-sharing opportunities that will play an ever-growing role in worldwide licensing revenues.
Your contribution to the growth of the Sub-Saharan African Television marketplace means a lot to us and
I want to also thank you for your continuous support of DISCOP AFRICA.
Looking forward to seeing you next in Accra!
PATRICK JUCAUD
GENERAL MANAGER
THE DISCOP ORGANIZATION
DISLINK™
is published by
TEL PARIS
+ 33 1 42 29 32 24
TEL LOS ANGELES
+ 1 323 782 13 00
[email protected]
www.basiclead.com
VOLUME 25
SEPTEMBER 2010
DISLINK
1
DISCOP NEWS
ALL THE SHOWS THAT ARE
NEW TO VIEW!
WELL, NOT ALL THE NEW SHOWS – THERE ARE TWO MANY OF THEM AT DISCOP AFRICA 4
TO GET ALL OF THEM IN, BUT HERE IS A SELECTION OF SOME OF THE REAL EYE CATCHERS
FROM AMONGST THE NEW COMERS THAT ARE ON OFFER HERE IN NAIROBI.
POWER’S TERRIFYING TALES FROM THE SEA
AND FROM THE ARCTIC
MOBY DICK
This epic, 2 x 2 hour retelling of Herman Melville’s
much-loved classic immerses us in the high seas
adventures of Ishamel, a boy seeking adventure,
and Ahab, a man whose obsession with vengeance on the great white whale Moby Dick is all
consuming and drives him to risk the lives of all
around him in order to obtain it. Starring William
Hurt, Ethan Hawke, Eddie Marsan, Gillian Anderson and Donald Sutherland.
MOBY DICK
ICE
When power hungry oil giants ignore the warnings of environmentalists and start drilling for Arctic oil the collapse of a rig in the Arctic not only
causes global panic, but also sets in train devastating new weather patterns plunging the world’s
temperatures into steep decline, and leaving the
entire planet contemplating the dawn of a new
Ice Age. This 2 x 2 hour mini-series stars: Richard
Roxburgh, Francis O’Connor, Stephen Moyer,
Claire Forlani, Simon Callow and Ben Cross.
Contact Eric Muller, Screenings stand 7 eric@
powcorp.com
MARC DORCELL’S 3D BRINGS A WHOLE NEW
DIMENSION TO ADULT ENTERTAINMENT
Marc Dorcell, the French producer famed since
the late seventies for his ‘pornochic’ productions
has launched what could be the ultimate in adult
entertainment - his catalogue is now being made
available in 3D and HD. Working in association
with 3DLIZED, a company that specialises in cinematic events, Marc Dorcell has produced a library
of programming that offers classy adult entertainment as it has never been seen before – literally!
Contact Dirk Van Der Plas, Viewing Box 30
[email protected]
ICE
FOR YOUR LOVE
BRIDES AVENUE
MNET OFFERS AN UNIQUE TAKE ON
MODERN AFRICA COME AND JOIN MNET’S
LEAGUE OF GLORY
To mark the recent World Cup in South
Africa, MNET offers LEAGUE OF GLORY. Set in
the beautiful wine growing region, in and around
the quaint town of Stellenbosch, this 13 x 48
minute series tells the story of three young men,
Jonathan Grant, Kaiser Sigcau and Luke Jantjes
as they move from young boys, through adolescence, and into manhood. Born into very different
backgrounds through soccer they form a lasting
friendship in this aspirational and upbeat story of
triumph in the face of adversity.
TAKE A PEAK THROUGH MNET’S AFRICAN
KALEIDOSCOPE!
AFRICAN KALEIDOSCOPE is a magazine
show profiling Africa’s leading personalities and
exploring the continent’s vast diversity, and wide
range of cultures. Shot on location in seventeen
different African countries, this 52 x 48 minute series offer a guest list made up of some of Africa’s
greatest sporting and cultural icons, including;
Senegalese music giant Ishmael Lo, music sensation Angelique Kidjo, South Africa songstress
Yvonne Chaka and Zimbabwean born muso,
Louis Mhlanga.
Contact Mike Dearham, Academy Suite 1 mike.
[email protected]
TV AZTECA’S BRAND NEW TELENOVELLA
Love, hatred, evil and passion all blend to
create Daniela – an idyllic and incomparable
romance in which past secrets overshadow the
happiness of a young couple. Daniela Montenegro can never forget the tanned, handsome man
whose gaze swept her off her feet. Santiago
Ropdriguez is stunned by the enchanting Daniela, a daughter of the slums, and a rebel and
a fighter. It seems that, over the course of 195
sixty minute episodes, fate or tragedy is set to
rule the lives of these two young people from so
very different worlds. Available from TV Azteca,
screening stand 6. Or email [email protected] or
visit www.comarex.tv.
Continued on page 4
2
DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
DISCOP NEWS
Continued from page 2
AWARD WINNING TELENOVELAS FROM
ABS-CBN
The leading Filipino broadcaster ABS-CBN
is well known the world over for the quality of
its telenovelas, and their offering at DISCOP Africa 4 is no exception. Heading the slate is SHE
–WOLF THE LAST SENTINEL. This 60 x 45 minute
series, winner of the award for best telenovela
at BANFF 2009, and starring Angel Locsin who
picked up Best Actress at the 37th International
Emmy Awards for her role, SHE-WOLF THE LAST
SENTINAL, tells the story of two lovers struggling
to remain true to their love in the face of secrets,
betrayal and violence as they dare to defy the
fates determined to tear them apart.
Also on The ABS CBN offering is THE TWO
OF US, 100 x 45 minute episodes tells the story
of two men who share the same name and the
same love, but, from very different backgrounds
is this possible? THE TWO OF US was the 2010
winner of the Gawad Tanglaw Award for Best Ensemble Acting and Coco Martin also grabbed the
Presidential Jury Award for Excellence in Acting.
Contact Reena Garingan Viewing Box 12 reena_
[email protected]
ARTSWORLD AFRICA AL JAZEERA
FAUT-IL AVOIR PEUR DES VIRUS?
AL JAZEERA’S STORIES OF THE TRIUMPH OF
THE HUMAN SPIRIT
ARTSWORLD IN KENYA
ARTSWORLD is half hour programme which
demonstrates that in the midst of the war, destruction or corruption, how people use the arts
to bring about social change. These are stories
that change people’s perceptions about the world
we live in and allow for a greater understanding
of one another’s cultures and traditions, from music, dance and painting to sculpture, film, poetry,
fashion, animation, multi-media and comedy.
Al Jazeera brings three new episodes to DISCOP
Africa 4 focusing on Kenya, Ghana and Liberia.
JOSEPH’S JOURNEY
This half hour documentary follows the story
of one man’s 3 year journey to escape his handto-mouth existence in Liberia and create a better
life for him and his family.
Joseph's Journey brings him out of his native
Liberia through the Sahara towards Europe. Crossing borders illegally, packed into a pick-up truck
with 20 other young migrants, Joseph's journey
to the West ends abruptly when he is arrested and
deported back to Liberia. But, when he wins the
US Green Card lottery Joseph leaves Liberia for
New York City, But here he finds himself alone and
unemployed in this huge metropolis with the pressures of his family’s expectations of success.
Contact Martin Ryan at Viewing Box 14 martin.
[email protected]
FCCE BRINGS NEW 'ENTERTAINMENT
NEWSFEED' TO AFRICA
International producer and distributor FCCE
will present its new 'Entertainment News Feed'
to the African market, during the upcoming
SHE WOLF
DISCOP Africa held in Nairobi - Kenya, from 1-3
September 2010.
TWO VERY DIFFERENT OFFERINGS FROM 10 FRANCS
The new to Africa 'Entertainment News Feed' offers 10 finished and
SWEET LAMBS
itemized movie related items daily. The newsfeed is unique in its field
As funny and absurd as the Tex Avery cartoons this brand new series
and has been successfully launched recently in other markets this year.
follows the insane subterfuges of a big, bad, and starving wolf as he
It has already been licensed in Kenya and South Africa on a non-excludesperately tries to catch his favourite dish – lambs! 138 x 1 minute
sive basis. The ‘Entertainment News Feed’ is ideal for all platforms from
available immediately with another 100 new episodes in production and
broadcasters to New Media outlets.
ready for delivery in September 2011.
FCCE will also present its new docutainment series of in depth porRESEARCH TODAY
traits of Hollywood Icons. These include Sylvester Stallone and Meryl
This collection of 16 one hour documentaries takes the viewer to
Streep amongst others. The series will provide a fascinating insight and
the heart of today’s scientific research, highlighting its diversity, and the
cover the lives of these A-list Hollywood stars. Each episode of this domany benefits it bestows on society. Based on the format of a police
cutainment series - now in development - will include never before seen
procedural, each episode highlights one type of research, demonstratfootage and exclusive interviews with the actor or actress spanning their
ing why it is necessary and examining possible future benefits.
entire career.
Contact TVFI Umbrella Booth 1 [email protected]
FCCE will showcase its products and services at the upcoming
PASSION WITH A BANG
DISCOP AFRICA 4, at Meeting Box 11. More information can be found
Passions Distribution’s brand new series THE IMPLODERS (3 x 60
at: www.fcce.tv.
minutes) which recently premiered on the TLC in the US to great success
follows Eric Kelly, and his family team of demolition experts as they travel
around the globe bringing down buildings others are unable to destroy.
Working at great height in crumbling buildings, with large amounts of
explosive, every member of the team knows that one small slip and they
could all be buried under thousands of tons of concrete and steel. DL
4
DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
REGIONAL NEWS
AFRICA RIGHTS WATCH DECLARES
WAR ON PIRACY
FOR ANYONE EARNING A LIVING IN THE AUDIOVISUAL CONTENT BUSINESS,
PIRACY IS A CANCER. IT LITERALLY SUCKS THE LIFE BLOOD FROM THE
BUSINESS. IF THERE IS NO PROTECTION FOR IP, THEN THERE IS NO
REASON FOR ANYONE TO INVEST IN IT. AND IF NO ONE INVESTS THEN
ULTIMATELY – THERE IS NO AUDIOVISUAL CONTENT BUSINESS TO BE IN.
Executive Manager, reports that during
The truth is, piracy happens all over
THE DAKAR DECLARATION
her presentation at ‘Broadcast and Film Afthe world. But it is also true that in Africa
We, representatives of the African Audiovisual
rica’ held Nairobi in July, many other comthe problem is worse than in almost any
industry, gathered in Dakar on the
panies expressed great interest in joining
other region of the globe. If the continent’s
25th of February 2010 during DISCOP Africa 3
the initiators of this vital move, wanting
rapidly emerging audiovisual business is to
to discuss,
themselves to become founding members
survive and prosper then it must confront
‘Regulation: A Vital Step in the Developing
of Africa Rights Watch. As a result of this
this evil, quickly and effectively. That at
Audiovisual Industry, and following the meeting
interest, it will be possible for companies inleast was the conclusion of a round table
declare a united interest in:
terested in becoming founding members of
discussion held on 25th February this year
Africa Rights Watch to register as such
in Dakar, Senegal during DISCOP Africa 3.
Promoting an audiovisual economy respectful
at a lunch on the Friday of DISCOP
A number of the leading players in the
of creative and legal rights.
Africa 4.
African content business, including CanalIncreasing public authorities’ awareness of the
And, as Barsell explains, the planning
Sat Horizons, L’Association Privee des Probenefits of reinforcing these rights.
and organisation of ARW, is already
ducteurs et Televisions D’Afrique (APPTA),
Creating an Association dedicated to taking
well advanced. “We are very clear as to
Africa’s leading independent distributor,
the necessary measures to fight against audiovisual
the needs this new organisation needs
Cote Ouest, South African Pay platform
piracy in Africa.
to address, “asserts Barsell, “one of
MNET and Le Reseau de l’Audiovisuel
the obvious needs,” she continues,
Public D’Afrique Francophone (RAPAF)
“is for the provision of legal resources
announced their intention of working toand so the ARW web site will provide
gether towards the goal of launching an
members with access to all the regulations pertaining to audioAfrican anti-piracy body.
visual rights in each country of Sub-Saharan Africa. Further, if a
Since then, much progress has been made. The key players have
member believes that their intellectual property is being infringed,
issued what has become known as ‘The Dakar Declaration’. This states:
there will be two template letters on the site, available in both Eng- “We, representatives of the African Audiovisual industry, gathered in
lish and French. One of these letters will be addressed to the reguDakar on the 25th of February 2010 during DISCOP Africa 3 to discuss,
latory authorities, and the other will be designed to register a for‘Regulation: A Vital Step in the Developing Audiovisual Industry, and
mal complaint with the broadcaster suspected of committing a
following the meeting declare a united interest in:
violation of IP rights.”
• Promoting an audiovisual economy respectful of creative
As an indication of its determination to take a pro-active role in
and legal rights.
the
fight against piracy, Africa Rights Watch will list the number of
• Increasing public authorities’ awareness of the benefits of
complaints
made against every broadcaster in Sub-Saharan Africa which
reinforcing these rights.
is
the
subject
of such a complaint. Although the names of those making
• Creating an Association dedicated to taking the necessary
the
complaint
will not be posted on the site, Barsell insists that, “this is not
measures to fight against audiovisual piracy in Africa.
an anonymous process, ARW, will know the names and the circumstances
This was not an empty statement. Since February real progress has
of each complaint raised.”
been made, resulting in the announcement 16 August of the formation
Patrick Jucaud, General Manger of the DISCOP organisation,
of just such an Association. Named ‘Africa Rights Watch’ (ARW), it will
commented, “I am delighted at the role DISCOP has been able to play,
hold its first annual general meeting in Accra Ghana during DISCOP
and will continue to play, in this initiative,” adding, “as the only forum
Africa 5 (Accra 9-11 February 2011).
at which the continent’s entire audiovisual business gathers DISCOP has
The five organisations who took the lead in launching this initiative
a key role to play in providing the means for all the major players of Subin Dakar, along with the DISCOP organisation, constitute the founding
Saharan Africa to unite and defeat the pirates.” DL
members of Africa Rights Watch, but Cherise Barsell, DISCOP Africa’s
6
DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
continued on page 6
REGIONAL NEWS
(Pangako sa'Yo)
THE NEW MAP OF AFRICA’S PAY TV
IT’S EASY TO GET LEFT BEHIND IN TODAY’S AFRICAN PAY TV MARKET.
THE SITUATION IS CHANGING RAPIDLY AND IT’S HARD TO KEEP UP. BUT ONE
THING IS FOR SURE – THERE ARE HUGE REWARDS AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO
EMERGE AS THE EVENTUAL WINNERS IN THIS HIGH STAKES GAME
eart
(Dahil May Isang Ikaw)
Richard Bell, Chief Executive Officer of East Africa Capital Partners,
the majority shareholder in Kenya’s Wananchi Group, recently noted
that “global Pay TV penetration ranges between 20% and 80%
while in Africa the level of penetration is still less than 0.1%.
”Bell went on to reveal “this disconnect is where we see a
great opportunity.”
And he is not alone. All over Africa there is an expansion of Pay
TV, with new ventures opening all the time, and the Swedes, Arabs,
Americans, Portuguese, Chinese and Canadian companies that have
already made significant investments in the sector are, according to
insider buzz, about to be joined by a ‘major European media group,’ although, at the time
of writing, no announcement had been
made. If that does turn out to be the
case they will find themselves in a
market that is already crowded
and still growing at quite a rate.
And one that doesn’t take prisoners; the potential rewards are
high, but so are the risks.
South Africa is a market that
illustrates this point perfectly. Since
1995 MultiChoice had been the only
Pay service in the Republic, and used its
monopoly position in Africa’s richest market to expand its
pay operations into many other Africa countries. Then, in
September 2007 the Independent Communications Authority
of South Africa (ICASA) granted four new Pay TV licenses,
apparently ending MultiChoice’s, at that time, twelve year
monopoly.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers South Africa’s Pay
market at the time was worth a fraction over US$1 billion, and,
in their latest ‘Global Entertainment And Media Outlook 2009 –
2013’ the company predicts that, by 2013 that market value will
have grown a healthy 37% to US$1.368 billion. It seems obvious
then that South Africa is a market that has room for more players
than that of a monopoly. However, since 2007 only one of the four
winning bids for a rival license has gone to air. On Digital Media’s
TopTV bowed on May 1st this year, and has apparently been a runaway success, claiming to havesold approximately 120,000 decoders in its first three months of operation, and announcing plans to
launch new channels and PVR functionality in 2011.
The remaining three license winners in 2007 have, so far, been
less fortunate. e-tv gave up the struggle early on and became a
programme supplier to MultiCoice and now also operates Free TV
in thirteen African countries. Of the other two Telkom sold its stake
in Telkom Media last year for R68 million (US$9.5 million) represent-
10
DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
ing a declared loss of $403 million (US$56 million) which, along with
a loan of R471 million (US$66 million) which it wrote off completely,
made a total loss of R874 million (US$ 122 million). The stake was sold
to Shenzhen Media, and the company was renamed Super 5. However,
it failed to begin broadcasting before being wound up by Rothschild in
August over unpaid debts. The final winner in the class of 2007, WoW
TV has yet to make it to air, although as recently as August co-founder
and CFO, Luyanada Mangquku was insisting that it would bow shortly,
with two bouquets of channels priced, respectively, at R49 a month and
R99 a month (US$7 and $14).
There is, however, no doubt about the future plans of Kenya’s leading
media group, Wananchi. Already established in Kenya, where
its 187 Km cable network already passes 37,000 homes,
as well as Uganda and Tanzania where it recently
bought cable market leader CTV, the company has
recently announced ambitious plans to expand into
a further six African countries with operations
due to be launched in Rwanda, Burundi,
Malawi, Ethiopia, Sudan and Zambia
by the end of this September. This
expansion is being launched as a result of two major deals recently announced by the company.
The first saw Wananchi receive an
investment of Ks 1.5 billion (US$.O2 billion).
The company has used this money to
establish a new division, Wananchi
Programming Group, tasked with
producing local content for the
company’s subscribers.
The second deal is with hardware
supplier Cisco. This ‘vendor financing
agreement’, i.e. where the seller lends
the purchaser the money with which to buy
the product will, per Wananchi Group Chairman
Mark Schneider, “allow us to pursue our strategy
of revolutionising triple play services and technology to
global standards.” Triple play is still a rarity in Africa’s Pay market, one
of the few other players being Orange with operations in Senegal and
Mauritius.
On the other side of the continent, however, the harshness of this
business has been thrown into sharp relief by the tribulations at Nigeria’s
HiTV. At the end of July the company lost its exclusive deal with the English Premier League to rival SuperSport, after failing to make a further
payment of US$ 60 million due under what was supposed to have been
Continued on page 14
(Iisa Pa Lamang)
(Tayong Dalawa)
DISCOP
1-3 SEPTEMBER 2010 NAIROBI
HILTON NAIROBI HOTEL
AFRICA
Viewing Box 12
TRENDS
IN A CROWDED AND COMPETITIVE
MARKET CHANNEL BRANDING IS A
VITAL TOOL
IN AN EVER MORE COMPETITIVE MARKET, BRAND RECOGNITION IS VITAL FOR THE
PROSPERITY OF ANY CHANNEL. BUT IN AFRICA WITH ITS CURRENT LOW LEVELS OF PAY
TV PENETRATION IT IS ALSO A VITAL TOOL, NOT ONLY FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE
CHANNEL, BUT ALSO FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE CONCEPT OF PAY TV. THREE LEADING
EXPERTS EXPLAIN THE KEY ELEMENTS OF CHANNEL BRANDING, AND JUST WHY IT IS SO
VITALLY IMPORTANT.
Francois Thiellet
CEO of Thema
Bruce Tuchman
President of MGM Networks
Francois Thiellet, CEO of Thema
is clear that, “as competition between TV channels becomes ever
more intense and the consumer is
presented with an ever larger choice
of channels, it is necessary to have a
brand that is clear and is easily understandable,” but, for Thiellet, this
alone is not enough, “it is also vitally important that the schedule
delivers on the promise the brand
makes to the target audience,” he
explains.
But it is not just competition
from other TV channels that makes
channel branding so important, as
Bruce Tuchman, President of MGM
Networks points out, “not only is
the sheer number of channels continuing to increase dramatically,
but, so too are the many other entertainment, information and lifestyle choices available both on and
off air, all of which compete for a
slice of consumers’ precious viewing time.” And, as Tuchman goes
on to point out, “this dynamic becomes even more challenging for
subscription television brands in Af-
rica where Pay TV is a new and
emerging choice for many consumers, so the effort lies not only in
branding to attract audiences to a
particular channel, but also in working together with our partner platforms, and the other channels they
carry, to attract customers to the
Pay TV proposition.”
Effective branding can also offer other rewards in addition to a
large and growing audience. Olivier
Laouchez, Co-Founder, Chairman
and CEO of Trace TV, explains, “in
an environment with hundreds of
channels competing for the audience, immediate recognition is key,
and an effective brand contributes
to this. But,” he continues, “channels are more and more a part of a
360 degree experience and an effective channel brand can be leveraged into many other areas such as
consumer products and mobile services.” As an illustration of the importance of this point, Laouchez
reveals to DISLINK that “Trace now
generates approximately 25% of its
total revenue outside television.” A
Olivier Laouchez
Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Trace TV
good illustration of this theory in action is the deal, recently signed,
with MTN, Africa’s leading mobile
operator with over 100 million subscribers, to launch Trace MTN mobile, a new service dedicated to
young Africans and offering mobile
surfing and downloads. The service
has already proved immensely popular in the Ivory Coast and Cameroon, and plans are being made to
roll out the service in many other
Africa countries. And, insists Laouchez, “without the power of the
Trace brand such success would not
have been possible.”
Thiellet and Tuchman agree
that the importance of branding is
key to all channels, with Tuchman
describing a channel’s brand as,
“the corner stone in attracting and
retaining viewers now, and even
more so into the future.” But for
Laouchez branding is “key for
youth, music and documentary
channels precisely because they can
leverage their brands into other areas more easily than many other
channels, as Disney and Discovery
have so successfully done.” Thiellet
is clear as to the main elements in a
strong and successful channel
brand. “A brand,” he explains, “is a
name, logo and content, and these
elements have to be clearly linked in
the mind of the consumer. To be
successful in today’s market it is
necessary to be understood and
known, as well as watched, and a
good starting point in branding a
channel, therefore, is the name.
This must be short, and leave the
viewer in no doubt as to the message.” As examples of this, Thiellet
cites Luxe.TV, Fashion.TV, Motors.
TV and Euronews.
After finding the right name,
Thiellet stresses the necessity of
“developing the ‘story’ and ‘the
value’ of the brand, and developing
the content with a clear understanding of the target audience.”
And, he suggests that channels can
benefit in this regard from utilising
the expertise of advertising agencies.
Finally, urges Thiellet, “when
the product is well defined, it is imContinued on page 14
12
DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
TRENDS
MARKET CHANNEL BRANDING Continued from page 12
portant to find the right way of promoting the brand; the right radio stations
and newspapers in which to advertise, developing advertising that will appeal
to the target audience, and
similarly the web site. You have,”
he insists, “to succeed in giving
the right perception of the brand
from the very beginning.”
Thiellet’s emphasis on the
importance of the content delivering on the branding’s promise
is echoed by Laouchez. “In just
seven years,” he points out,
THIELLET IS CLEAR AS TO THE
“Trace has established itself as
MAIN ELEMENTS IN A STRONG the number one in Africa in what
AND SUCCESSFUL CHANNEL
is a very competitive music
BRAND. “A BRAND,” HE
market. We have achieved this
EXPLAINS, “IS A NAME, LOGO not only by means of great distribution, but also as a result of
AND CONTENT, AND THESE
ELEMENTS HAVE TO BE CLEARLY having the very best of both the
African and International hip
LINKED IN THE MIND OF THE
hop and R+B acts.” These are
CONSUMER.
sentiments endorsed by MGM’s
Tuchman, who believes “at its most successful, channel branding is all about
winning hearts and minds and forging an indelible emotional connection with
consumers which causes them to think often, and highly, about the channel
– whether or not they are even viewing it. Specifically,” he continues, “this
means that the aim, through channel branding, is to create a distinct and
compelling voice or identity for the channel, one that differentiates and
distinguishes it from other channels and, of course, one that is relevant and
attractive to viewers.”
These basic principles of branding are, according to Thiellet applicable
pretty much anywhere in the world. “There are,” he observes, “what you
might call ‘codes’ that resonate with consumers and tell them what sort of a
channel you are offering, black and white says luxury, or high quality, capital
letters denote ‘information’ and strong colours such as yellow, orange and
green are effective for children’s channels.” Once these ‘codes’ have been
established the brand can travel around the world, as Thiellet points out, “a lot
of international brands are well known all over the world, brands such as MTV,
CNN and Al Jazeera, and,” he goes on, “we distribute TV channels in Africa
with the same name and branding as in Europe and Asia, but,” he cautions,
“this is only true of the brand, the content will have to be altered to suite the
culture, religion, tastes and wishes of the host country.”
Of course MGM with nearly ninety years legacy of classic movie making
and the iconic and globally famous lion, is about as well established as a brand
can get. For this reason, as he explains, Tuchman sees the MGM channel
making a unique fit with the African market. “Africa,” says Tuchman, “is now
hitting a nice stride and building considerable momentum in rolling out a
vibrant Pay TV landscape across a fast growing continent. We believe the key
to building on this momentum and reaching the full potential of Pay TV in
Africa centres profoundly on the quality of brands and calibre of the content.
A key challenge,” continues Tuchman, “will be convincing potential
subscribers of the tremendous value in Pay television, and there can be no
better tool in meeting this challenge than tapping into brands such as ours
with decades of built in goodwill, widespread recognition and positive
emotional connections to consumers, all of which will help local consumers
more readily visualize and embrace the value proposition of Pay TV.”
Of course success will always elude those with an inferior product, but the
reverse is not always true. It is possible to have a great product and still fail, and
central to ensuring this is not a fate shared by your channel is to understand
your product and the audience at which it is aimed, and, most crucially, make
sure they know it is for them. This process is called channel branding. DL
NEW MAP OF AFRICA'S PAID TV Continued from page 9
a three year deal. HiTV had already paid US$40 million of a total contractual
value of $125 million. Although it will get back a proportion of the $40
million it paid up front, the real damage to the company is in terms of its
future growth. In October 2009 it reported a subscriber base of 254,000, and
announced a target of 600,000 by August 2010 and 1 million by 2012. It
based these forecasts on the fact that the deal with EPL, which it has just lost,
was for 100% of the matches instead of the 80% it had under its previous
deal. AS of current it seems these figures will be difficult to acheive.
Russell Southwood, CEO of British research house Balancing Act, which
recently produced a briefing paper on Africa’s Pay TV business, ‘Pay TV: - A
Growing And Competitive Market’ believes that HiTV’s travails with the EPL
both underline a key facet of the present market, and also point the way to
the future for Africa’s Pay TV business. “There are, at the moment, simply too
many players in the market, and they are just driving up the cost of content,”
insists Southwood, before going on to suggest, “I believe the end result will
be a segmentation of the market with all the very best content and technology at the top end, and this might cost a subscriber anything between $80
and $100 per month, and then below that there will be lower tier operators
with less prestigious content and none of the technical bells and whistles but
available at a much lower price.” DL
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SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
As an illustration of this already happening, Southwood points to NGB, a
Swedish company with operations in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, which will
install DTT transmission equipment in return for a licence to operate Pay DTT
under its Smart TV brand, and to Star TV, a Chinese company that has DTT
operations in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Like NGB, Star provides the
DTT infrastructure at no cost to the government in return for a DTT license,
and, notes Southwood, “the services they offer are at a very low cost to the
subscriber.”
My TV, a Nigerian rival to HiTV, is another operator, owned by Gulf based
Strong Technologies, that is also broadly following this model.
And there is speculation that it is a model that will be followed by
Upstar Comunicacoes, a joint venture between Zon Multimedia of Portugal
and Angolan outfit Socip, which will be launching as a Portuguese language
Pay service in Angola.
It is unlikely that GTV, a pan-African pay service put into liquidation in
early 2009, or South Africa’s Super 5 Media will be the last casualties in
Africa’s Pay TV gold rush. But what is certain is that whoever stays the course
will have staked for themselves a claim to a very valuable piece of commercial real estate.
DISCOP NEWS
AFRICA TO BECOME AN ANNUAL EVENT
FROM THE OPENING OF DISCOP AFRICA 1 IN FEBRUARY 2009 TO DISCOP AFRICA 4 IN NAIROBI, THE LAUNCHING OF A NEW CONTENT MARKET TO SERVICE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA’S
BOOMING AUDIOVISUAL INDUSTRY HAS BEEN A THRILLING RIDE WITH ALL CONCERNED
EXPERIENCING A ‘G-FORCE LEARNING CURVE.’ BUT, FROM FEBRUARY 2011 SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICA’S ONLY CONTENT MARKET WILL BECOME AN ANNUAL MARKET – HERE’S WHY,
AND WHAT TO EXPECT.
Prior to the launch of DISCOP Africa in 2009, no content market had
existed solely for the purpose of serving the needs of the audiovisual
content industry of Sub-Saharan Africa. And, of course, DISCOP Africa
remains the only market fulfilling this vital function.
This is important to understand, because, as Tatjana Pavlovic, Head
Of Sales and Marketing at Basic Lead, organisers of the DISCOP Africa
markets, explains, “because no market had existed prior to the formation of DISCOP Africa, and, frankly, many content suppliers had confined
their interest in Sub-Saharan Africa to one or two of the major markets
such as South Africa and Nigeria, and many others had previously dealt
with the African market only through third party agents, one of the key
benefits of establishing a content market dedicated to the audiovisual
business of Sub-Saharan African is the ability it offers sellers to establish
working relationships directly with the buyers, and, in the initial phases
at least, that required more than one market per year in order to allow
those relationships to develop. Additionally,” she continues, “the launch
of DISOCP Africa in 2009 coincided with the run up to the 2010 World
Cup in South Africa and, as a consequence, Sub-Saharan broadcasters
were enjoying an upswing in advertising revenues and therefore had
more budgets available for investment in new programming, which was
another argument in favour of a second market.”
However, two years, and four markets later, it is clear that the establishment of a second market has served the purpose for which it was
designed and those vital personal relationships have now been well and
truly established and a good understanding of the needs of each party,
and the workings of the Sub-Saharan audiovisual content market has
been established across all sectors of the business. Consequently, the
need for this second annual edition of DISCOP Africa no longer exists. “It
is for this reason,” says Pavlovic, “we will be saying goodbye to Nairobi
for the final time this September, and DISCOP Africa will become an annual event held in a different African venue every year, so as to accommodate fairly the needs of all delegates whichever part of Africa they are
located in and whichever of the continent’s languages they speak”
It is anticipated that an additional benefit of the move to just one
market per year will be an increase in the number of buyers at the event.
Pavlovic predicts, that DISCOP Africa 5 (Accra, 9-11 February 2011) will
be attended by approximately 30% more buyers than attended each individual event when there were two DISCOP Africa events per year. Indeed,
Continued on page 18
16
DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
DISCOP NEWS
Continued from page 16
in anticipation of this, there will be 20% more exhibition space available in
Accra than was the case in either Dakar or Nairobi; although, as Pavlovic is
keen to emphasise, “the prices will remain the same.”
This means that participation at DISCOP Africa 5 is available from as little
as E1,000 (US$1,250), which is the cost of a non-exhibiting market table,
and includes one badge. Viewing boxes, screening stands and Academy
Suites are also available, with Academy Suites at the top end of the options
costing E7,000 (US$8,750) and again, this also includes one market badge.
All exhibiting clients, i.e. those with Academy Suites, screening stands, and
viewing boxes, but not those with market tables, will also have the valet
meeting service included in the price.
Registration for DISCOP Africa 5 is open during DISCOP Africa 4 and
Pavlovic recommends early registration, noting that “all the Academy Suites
for DISCOP Africa 5 have already been optioned, and DISCOP Africa 4 was
sold out a month in advance of the opening.”
The Early Bird discount is open for those who register by the 29th of
October, and is worth a discount of 10% off the advertised cost. Although it
is also worth noting that for those who register before this date for two DISCOP markets the discount increases to 15% and for those registering before
this date for all three markets, the discount rises to 20%.
And, as Pavlovic explains, “there are many excellent reasons why we
have chosen Accra as the first venue of the newly annual DISCOP Africa.
On a practical level Ghana is a country in the centre of Africa, and is therefore easily accessible for all the continent’s buyers. From the perspective of
transport logistics, it is also a good choice for the many sellers who will be
attending as Accra is very well served with many flights from a wide range of
convenient locations. A further plus for those attending from outside Africa
is that Ghana has fewer visa requirements than most other African countries.
Ghana’s location offers one other major advantage in that it is an English
speaking territory in the heart of French speaking Africa, and, as such, satisfies the needs of both groups.”
Aside from these major logistical advantages, Ghana also benefits from
being a country with a rapidly expanding audiovisual content industry that
is fast becoming one of Africa’s powerhouses. With 59% of the population
owning a television, and 10.9% of the adult population owning two televisions, it has one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s highest levels of television set ownerships. Although Ghanaian broadcasting is dominated by five major broadcasters, GTV, TV3, TV Africa, Viasat 1 and Metro TV there are some twenty
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VOLUME 25
other stations on air and, in 2009, the National Communication
Authority issued licenses to a total of 104 stations.
Of these stations GTV in 2008 was the market leader with
an advertising share of 27%, Metro TV was a close second with
25% and Skyy was third with 7%.
Additionally, there are a number of Pay TV operations in
Ghana including Multichoice, My TV, which is a major player in
Nigeria, and also Ghanaian companies such as Multi TV, Skyy
and Smart TV, A New Pay DTT service which was launched by
the Swedish company NGB in collaboration with the Ghana
Broadcasting Corporation in April of this year.
Leading media entrepreneur Michael Gyang, who is also
CEO of Homebase, a newly formed Pay TV platform reports
that “new stations are shooting up every month in all parts
of the country,” and that, “analogue broadcasting is due to
be switched off in 2011.” Although he also notes, “the main
barrier to consumer entry will be the cost of the STB, estimated
to be around GHC 200 (US$ 140), additionally, he also reports
that, “Globacom, and other operators are launching underwater fibre-optic platforms,” which will, of course mirror the similar development recently opened on Africa’s East coast.
All of which mirrors the boom in the African Audiovisual
content business over all. Leading Ghanaian producer Juliet
Asante, CEO of Eagle productions, and also a member of the
Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, notes
that sub-Saharan Africa is weathering he present economic crisis better than most parts of the world, noting that the World
Bank is predicting growth for the region in 2011 of 4.5%, in
excess of its predictions for Western Europe and Central Asia.
Also, she notes, “the West African TV broadcast environment
represents the fastest growing television market in Sub-Saharan
Africa,” adding, “its electronic media industry is currently experiencing a systemic commercial transformation and is set to
experience phenomenal growth.”
All of which suggests that a presence at the beautiful La
Palm Royal Beach Hotel for DISCOP Africa 5 in February 2011
will represent a very sound investment indeed. DL
TRENDS
CONFERENCE OF COOL
THE STAGE OF THE OXFORD PLAYHOUSE IS LITTERED WITH THE DEBRIS OF THE OLD INFORMATION AGE, AS IF A DIRECTOR FROM THE OUTER EDGE OF THE COUNTER-CULTURE HAD
BEEN COMMISSIONED TO MAKE AN OPERA ABOUT THE DEATH OF THE MASS MEDIA. ON
ONE SIDE, THERE IS A PILE OF DISCARDED TELEVISIONS, ON THE OTHER A DUSTY NEWSAGENT’S STALL. A COUPLE OF STUFFED CARRIER PIGEONS SIT AT THE BACK OF THE STAGE,
OVERSHADOWED BY AN OLD PRINTING PRESS THAT LOOKS LIKE IT LAST SAW ACTION IN
THE DAYS OF MARTIN LUTHER. IT IS A BLEAK VISION OF PATHOS AND COSMIC IRRELEVANCE
BY PETER ASPDEN © THE FINANCIAL TIMES
And then the lights dim, and we are stirred from our sense of loss
by Verdi’s “Triumphal March” from Aida. In the middle of the stage, a
giant video screen and a red, neon-lit “TED” sign draw us into the day’s
events. This is the opening session of this year’s TEDGlobal conference
– the cosy acronym stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design – and
we are not being allowed to wallow in gloom or nostalgia. The theme of
this year’s conference, held for the second successive year in Oxford, is
“And Now the Good News”. The organisation’s imposing, silver-haired
European director Bruno Giussani takes the stage. He asks us to put our
pessimism to one side and consider the case for “rational optimism”.
Dimitar Sasselov,
Astronomer
Chris Anderson and
Bruno Giussani
Mallika Sarabhai,
Dancer, actor, activist
Sixty speakers, over four days, will deliver a series of lectures to this
end, to an invited audience of 750 figures from the worlds of business, technology and academia who have paid nearly $5,000 each to
attend. The format is precise and strictly controlled: each speaker has
18 minutes to put their point across. There are no questions, no pauses.
After the briefest of introductions, we are on to the next lecture.The first
speaker is a safe bet: Joseph Nye, the Harvard professor best known for
his promotion of “soft power”, the paradigm-breaking concept that eschews the traditional carrot-stick approach to political power, and asks
“smart” nations to develop their persuasive abilities to get the world to
do what they want.
He gives a polished and fluent performance, lamenting the prevalence of the “fear” factor in contemporary international relations, and
20
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giving a compelling account of why the rise of China is an opportunity,
rather than a threat, to the west. His presentation lasts 18 minutes, on
the button. There is a wave of warm applause, and even a couple of
whoops. We are up and running.
TED was founded in 1984, the brainchild of US architect and designer Richard Saul Wurman, who had noticed the convergence of themes
in the worlds that would constitute the organisation’s title. At that first
conference, held in California, there were demos of the newly released
Macintosh computer and Sony compact disc. It was attended by many
of the world’s leading IT thinkers, including Nicholas Negroponte, a
VOLUME 25
Julian Assange,
Journalist and
Founder of Wikileaks
Johan Rockstrom,
Sustainability Expert
professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the cognitive
scientist Marvin Minsky.
The conference didn’t pay its way, and was not held again for another six years, by which time the idea behind it – to promulgate “ideas
worth spreading” – had found its time. Since then the conference has
been held every year in California and attracted a stellar, and sometimes
unexpected, line-up of speakers: Bill Gates, Frank Gehry, Al Gore, Billy
Graham, Peter Gabriel, Quincy Jones, Bono. In 2001, the conference
was acquired by Chris Anderson, a British computer magazine publisher
and entrepreneur, via his Sapling Foundation and has cemented its status as a non-profit venture that is gradually spreading its message, most
notably through its website, which freely posts TED talks from the conferences online.
Continued on page 22
TRENDS
TED Cont. from page 20
Such is the appeal of TED, which is routinely described as a cross between Glastonbury and Davos, that it even attracts improbable celebrities: actresses Cameron Diaz and
Meg Ryan and basketball star Kareem AbdulJabbar have been spotted in its audiences in
recent years, forcing the implementation of
one of the conference’s strictest rules, banning the reporting of attendees: “It is not
cool to tweet that you are sitting next to a
celebrity,” explains Giussani at one point between sessions, to nervous laughter and furtive sidelong glances.
TEDGlobal is the original’s sister conference and has now settled into its Oxford
home to nurture its internationalist ambitions. There is a strong streak of idealism
behind the conference: a fundamental belief
that the free and promiscuous flow of ideas
has the potential to make the world a better
place. At this particular conference, there is a
raft of concrete, uplifting, practicable proposals suggesting that our planet can be saved
by the apparently simple process of its most
brilliant thinkers connecting with each other.
Matt Ridley, a British author and self-styled
“rational optimist”, puts it more colourfully
in his 18 minutes on the first day: ideas are
at their best “when they have sex” and procreate younger, fitter ideas in their place. The
audience loves this talk, because it makes
ideas sound sexy, and possibly because it
has the side-effect of making sex sound profound. Steven Berlin Johnson, author of the
bestseller Everything Bad Is Good For You,
which argues that popular culture and video
games have made us smarter, continues the
theme with another memorable slogan later
that afternoon, in his talk on how ideas are
produced: “Chance favours the connected
mind.”
These slick homilies may sound glib but
it occurs to me that they may turn out to
herald something of an intellectual revolution. As I slope back to my bedroom at my
old Oxford college where I have chosen to
stay for the week, I am taken back to my
undergraduate days, studying philosophy in
a room in this very quadrangle, where I am
once more bumping my head against intransigent wooden beams.
I recall that we spent an entire term on
Descartes’ Meditations, the work that led
22
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SEPTEMBER 2010
the French philosopher to his famous declaration: “I think, therefore I am.” It was a
slim volume, yet we micro-analysed every
last semi-colon of its tortured arguments. To
do well, we had to find flaws in the philosopher’s reasoning. Our adolescent critiques
spoke to no one outside our precious circle.
To be a successful scholar was to regard inwards, and wade into an ever-denser intellectual world that made scant connection
with contemporary realities.
Thirty years on, in the very same venue,
TED is doing the precise opposite. It regards
ideas as a kind of currency that has not been
circulating freely enough to achieve its full
potential. The most important thing about
them is not that they should withstand
the obsessive scrutiny of guileless teenage
minds, but that they should be original, inspiring, accessible, and that they should do
good. They are catering, in Giusanni’s words,
for an “incredible thirst” for knowledge and
information, and projecting a “new sense of
possibility in a world that is becoming submerged by bad news”.
TED talks are a clever mix of the lighthearted, the analytical, and the rawly emotional. There is a high tolerance for the last
category that is perhaps difficult for the notoriously sceptical British sensibility to swallow. When Annie Lennox, the singer and humanitarian activist, gives her talk on HIV/Aids
in Africa, she chooses to concentrate on a
positive story, showing before and after pictures of a little girl who received life-saving
treatment for her condition. She is visibly
moved as she recounts the transformation:
“I don’t know if you can see the hairs on my
arms ... ” We can’t, but pretend that we do.
Giussani says there is a “lower intensity of
cynicism” in a TED audience than in the outside world.
The show-stopper of day one is Naif AlMutawa, a bearded, bespectacled
clinical psychologist and creator
of The 99, a comic book project that showcases enlightened Muslim values in the
guise of superheroes.
They are shortly about
to interact, thanks to
some cross-cultural
co-operation be-
VOLUME 25
tween publishers, with DC Comics’ Justice
League of America in an ultimate act of pop
culture détente. Al-Mutawa’s talk is fastmoving, touching and witty (he describes recently manning a food stall advertising “Free
Falafel”, only for an earnest would-be protester to ask him: “Who’s Falafel?”) He gets
an ovation and his talk is among the first to
be made available from this conference on
the TED website.
The quality of TED talks is frequently astonishing, word-perfect, immaculately-timed,
shuffling potentially dense information in the
lightest of ways. The time slot, 18 minutes,
shorter than a Pink Floyd tune-up, seems
perfectly prescribed for the average attention span, given that you have to listen to
five in succession. You can take a break from
the intense atmosphere of the Playhouse by
watching a simulcast at the nearby Randolph
hotel, where there is a more social vibe, and
what seems to be the highest incidence of
hugs and iPads per square metre in the western world.
Lewis Pugh sets a bracing tone for the
second day. He is an extreme swimmer,
who recently attempted to swim in a Himalayan lake near Mount Everest at a height
of 5,300m. It was so cold, he tells us, that
his first effort floundered within minutes.
So he was forced to rethink, undergoing a
“radical, tactical shift” that made him swim
with “humility rather than aggression”. It
worked. Here was the perfect TED talk: a
little bit of action, some thinking outside
the box, humbling words on
the need to respect nature,
a happy ending. A Hollywood scriptwriter could
not have structured it
better.
Continued on page 24
Johan Rockstrom
MARKET
PLAZA
FORUM
EVENTS
www.ibcm.tv
TRENDS
TED Cont. from page 22
Giussani takes the stage again. Tickets for next year’s TEDGlobal,
which cost $5,200, went on offer two weeks ago and are half sold, he
tells the audience. “No pressure!” He tells me later that all TED conferences are sold out before the list of speakers is announced. “I really find
that amazing,” he says.
One criticism that may be made of TED is that there is a certain uniformity of view – broadly liberal and occasionally self-congratulatory
– that makes the proceedings too cosy. Ideas here don’t really rub up
against each other in any proper adversarial sense; but maybe that, too,
is a flawed legacy of our political and intellectual systems. Perhaps 2,500
years of Socratic inquiry, in which debaters duel dialectically to arrive at
a higher form of “truth”, have ill-served us, and we are ripe for a new
approach.
One sour note, notable for its rarity, was struck earlier this year
when the US comedian Sarah Silverman gave a TED talk. She riffed
on a joke about her desire to adopt a “mentally retarded” child that
apparently upset some of her audience (the talk has not been released on
Rachel Armstrong,
Community Activist
Rachel Sussman,
Artist, Photographer
William Perrin,
Community Activist
TED.com). Chris Anderson tweeted his own reaction: “I know I shouldn’t
say this about one of my own speakers, but I thought Sarah Silverman
was god-awful.” Silverman tweeted back: “Kudos to Chris for making TED an unsafe haven for all! You’re a barnacle of mediocrity on Bill
Gates’ asshole.” Anderson drew a gracious veil over the spat: “I gotta
say: you’re a way more eloquent insulter than I am ... Sarah, I wish you
well.”
It struck me as a welcome note of friction. Ideas have the power to
bite, to be misunderstood, to cause inadvertent offence. An awful lot
of the world’s problems are down to precisely that, a fact that is easy to
forget in the balmy TED world.
I have to miss the third day of the conference to travel to London,
and it is disorienting. Listening to the news on the car radio, it seems
suddenly full of flimsy, trivial stories. Giussani believes that part of TED’s
success can be ascribed to the failures of the media. “They are less and
less relevant in most of their daily coverage. The news cycle is dominated
by bad news, cynicism and looking backward instead of forward. I am
constantly amazed by how much space is taken by what has happened
in the past.”
Back in Oxford, the final morning opens with something of a coup: a
surprise and rare interview with Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, the
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DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
website responsible for disseminating information that various authorities would rather you did not see. The Australian-born Assange, softlyspoken, ashen-haired, decries the cult of personality and has an ascetic
and rigorous approach to the gathering of hard facts, which he describes
as the only true form of journalism. This makes him, paradoxically, extremely charismatic. The audience is rapt as we are shown the famous
leaked video of an American air strike on Baghdad that is Wikileaks’ most
significant triumph.
Assange is asked by Anderson to explain what motivates his hounding of errant governments and corporations, and he gives a haiku-like
response: “Capable, generous men do not create victims, they nurture
them.” The audience silently processes the reply, a little too absorbed to
whoop or cheer.
A few hours later, TED wraps up. Anderson warns the audience of
the dangers of “TED-crash”, the feeling of deflation that follows a short,
sharp period of intellectual intensity. To help offset it, there is a barbecue
and punting expedition. I watch with amusement as a physicist struggles
VOLUME 25
TED Staff
to master his pole, zigzagging from one bank of the river to the other.
But we are all, perhaps, too far gone in the realm of ideas to handle such
prosaic matters.
The physical occurrence of the TED conference is almost the least
important thing about it, because now comes the more serious matter
of spreading the word. We have all networked, exchanged e-mail addresses, connected. We have been reminded that some of the world’s
most brilliant and dynamic thinkers are busying themselves to find new
solutions to the world’s awesome problems.
It is not as if we don’t need their help. New times need new ideas. “I
think, therefore I am” didn’t take us as far as we might have hoped after
all. Our thoughts should begin to veer away from plunging ever more
pointlessly into the human psyche, and spread outwards, via the miracles
of technology and communication, to mix, to mingle, to have sex. Call
it the techno-Enlightenment, a new Age of Reason that doesn’t draw
its boundaries at the steadfast walls of an Oxford college. It is a deeply
idealistic, even romantic, ambition. But it might just work. Annie Lennox,
giving a familiar encore to a rollicking performance at the Playhouse,
captured the TED spirit best of all: sweet dreams are made of this.
TEDGlobal 2011 ran from July 11-15 in Oxford, www.ted.com
<http://www.ted.com> DL
Photo Credit: James Duncan Davidson/TED
Discop Ad tk from
Vladimir
DISCOP NEWS
TOGETHER IN ISTANBUL
THE LAUNCH ON MARCH 14 2011 OF DISCOP ISTANBUL 1 IS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY
FOR CONTENT SUPPLIERS TO ACCESS THE MARKETS OF THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST,
INCLUDING NOT ONLY THE TRADITIONAL ARAB COUNTRIES, BUT ALSO CENTRAL ASIA, THE
CAUCASUS, LEVANT, PERSIAN GULF AND NORTH AFRICA. MARKETS THAT WERE AMONG
THE LAST TO GO INTO RECESSION, AND WHICH NOW SEEM SET TO BE AMONGST THE
FIRST TO EMERGE FROM THE WORLDWIDE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN.
In 2008 the Greater Middle East region was the only region of the
globe still displaying growth in advertising spend and, at an overall increase of 30% compared with 2007 – spectacular growth at that! While
it is true that this impressive performance fell off a cliff in 2009, dropping
by 13%, (the same drop as the US), the recovery looks to be already
well set with ZenithOptimedia predicting an average CAGR for the region’s advertising of 8.9% between 2009 and 2013 with some countries
tagged for much better performances, notably Qatar and Sudan,
predicted to show growth rates of 17% and 14% respectively; the
Levant and North Africa region predicted to grow by between 6% and
11% per annum over the same period.
These encouraging forecasts are based on equally healthy growth
numbers in regional GDP,with the IMF predicting an overall annual
GDP growth of 10% for the Arab world, against 10% for Asia, 4% for Europe, 4% for the US, 7% Latin America, 8% Africa and 4% for Australasia.
It is not surprising, therefore, that in the run up to the first ever content
market in the broader Middle East region, DISCOP Istanbul
(Intercontinental Ceylan, 14 – 16 March 2011), the mood amongst senior
executives is buoyant. When the Dubai Press Club interviewed 125 of
them for its annual
‘Arab Media OutHAS THE
look’ report, 59%
of
respondents
reported
viewing
OF
the future with optimism, as against
26% who felt neutral on the matter
and only 15% with
AND THREE OF THE TOP FIVE
CONSUMERS OF TELEVISION ARE a negative take on
the future.
ARAB COUNTRIES, THE OTHER
There is broad
TWO BEING SAUDI
consensus
that
ARABIA AND UAE.
the future is a
bright one for the
countries of the region. And Turkey’s emergence, not only as an
increasingly important player on the geopolitical stage, but also as a
major content supplier to the Arab world, Southern and Central
Europe and beyond, (with The Netherlands recently added to the
list of countries), is just one of the reasons that made it a perfect
choice for the new DISCOP market targeting the potential of the Greater
Middle East region. Other benefits offered by Turkey’s largest city are
the fact that it is the centre for the region’s best airline network, with all
of the capital cities of the broader Middle East no more than two hours
flying time away, and 75% of them within a one hour flight of Istanbul,
and also there are no Visa requirements for Istanbul, and it is a city where
KUWAIT
HIGHEST LEVEL
TELEVISION
CONSUMPTION OF
ANY COUNTRY IN
THE WORLD
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SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25
Blackberries work!
But it should not be forgotten that this is an emerging region,
especially in terms of the content business, and there are issues that
need to be addressed.
One of the most urgent of such issues is the annual advertising
spend per capita which, according to ZenithOptimedia, is just $22 per head
for the MENA region and US$28 per head for Turkey, compared, for example,
with US$ 47 in Russia, $462 in the US and $273 in Western Europe. There
are several reasons for this very low figure, a number of which are likely to be
addressed in the immediate future, at least in some of the countries. Top of the list is the lack of any reliable audience data. Such
audience measurement as does exist consists of highly unreliable
phone polls. But industry wide negotiations are underway now,
and a more reliable form of audience measurement is likely to be introduced in the near future, probably in the Gulf in the first instance. The
need for the introduction of such measurement systems is dramatically
underlined by the total size of the Arab market for television advertising.
In 2009 the total TV ad spend in the region was just US$1.5 billion, split
US$900 million for Pan-Arab satellite channels and US$600 million for
local channels. This compares with the US figure of US$53 billion for
a population only about 20% greater than the population of the Arab
world.
Another key factor depressing advertising spend is the vast number
of free channels distributed, by satellite, on a Pan-Arab basis, and whose
programming, therefore, does not address any one of the countries
specifically.
There nearly 600 FTA channels available throughout the region
and their presence is a drag, not only on the FTA model, but
also on the Pay model. With so many channels freely available
the incentive to pay for more channels is clearly not as great as it
might be, which probably explains why Pay TV as a whole has between
10% and 15% of the Arab television market. A further striking anomaly
in this regard is the disparity in audience share amongst these
near 600 channels, with the top 5, MBC1, 2 and 4, Saudi TV1 and Al
Arabiya (also owned and operated by MBC) taking 47% market share
between them, with MBC 1 alone accounting for 22%, causing some
commentators to question the viability of many of the other channels.
MBC 1 is an Arab language general family entertainment
channel. Although the group does operate a pay service, MBC Drama Plus
which airs the most popular Arabic and Turkish shows 24 hours earlier
than they are shown on MBC 1. MBC 2 is a movies channel, MBC 4 is a
general entertainment channel focusing on foreign series,
as is Saudi TV 1, and Al Arabiya is a factual channel concentrating
on news, documentaries, talk showsand economics.
Despite the existence of such a wide choice of free television, subscriber levels to Pay services have been growing. For example, between 2004
DISCOP NEWS
and 2007 Showtime’s subscriber numbers grew by 18% CAGR, and even
during the recession year of 2009, when it also merged with rival Orbit,
the operator still threw a perfectly respectable CAGR of 9%.
Currently Pay TV revenues accountfor 30% of all television revenues in
the region per the Arab Media Outlook which predicts that this share
will rise to 35% by 2013.
TURKEY’S EMERGENCE,
NOT ONLY AS AN
INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT PLAYER ON THE
GEOPOLITICAL STAGE, BUT
ALSO AS A
MAJOR CONTENT
SUPPLIER TO THE ARAB WORLD,
SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL
EUROPE AND BEYOND, (WITH THE
NETHERLANDS RECENTLY ADDED TO THE
LIST OF COUNTRIES), IS JUST ONE OF THE
REASONS THAT MADE IT
A PERFECT CHOICE FOR
THE NEW
DISCOP MARKET
TARGETING THE
POTENTIAL OF THE
GREATER MIDDLE
EAST REGION.
Of the main Pay operators ART is the oldest, and also the operator
with the lowest ARPU. It focuses mainly on Arabic content and is one of
the major regional producers of Arabic movies. It has also traditionally invested heavily in sport, and in particular in Arab leagues. However, it has
recently sold all six sports channels, and with them the sports rights they
hold, to Al Jazeera, and so a change of direction looks inevitable here.
Two of ART’s main rivals, Orbit and Showtime merged in the
summer of last year. Traditionally Orbit was an Arabic service,
producing many popular local series in house, while Showtime skewed
more to Western content. The new merged company now offers 75
channels spread over 8 different packages and has first run deals with a
number of US majors including Warner, HBO and Universal.
Al Jazeera is, like ART, a low ARPU operator, and has of course, traditionally
been a news provider. However, it recently launched a children’s channel and
along with its purchase of the sports channels from ART has recently made
several major investments in premium content and so will have to increase
subscriber levels substantially in the coming years in order to recoup this
investment.
Additionally there are several other smaller operators in the market
specialising by genre and operating at a mid-range ARPU level.
But, the Dubai Press Club report is also upbeat as to the future
of the FTA model in the region predicting that the total television
advertising market will, by 2013, have risen from today’s
US$1.5 billion to US$1.9 billion. One of the reasons for this level
of optimism is that the Arab world has one of the highest levels of
television consumption in the world. Overall television is watched in the
region 13% longer per day than in Europe and 53% longer than in Asia
Pacific. In fact, Kuwait has the highest level of television consumption of
any country in the world and three of the top five consumers of television are Arab countries, the other two being Saudi Arabia and UAE.
With Pay booming, ad revenues predicted to rise by over 25% in
just the next three years, and a strong demand for genres currently in
short supply such as high quality Arabic programming, foreign entertainment, drama and for specialised programming with a focus on religious content, it is easy to see why so many savants are predicting
a gold rush in the audiovisual content business in the Greater Middle East. And, with participation at DISCOP Istanbul 1
starting at just EU1,000 (US$1,300) it’s easy to see why so many of
them will be at DISCOP Istanbul 1 in March 2011. DL
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VOLUME 25
SEPTEMBER 2010
DISLINK
27
TRENDS
TURKISH DRAMA
SWEEPING ALL BEFORE IT –
EVEN IN GREECE!
GREECE AND TURKEY, IT IS FAIR TO SAY, HAVE NOT ALWAYS ENJOYED THE EASIEST OF
RELATIONSHIPS. BUT AS THE POPULARITY OF TURKISH SOAP OPERAS CONTINUES TO
EXPAND FROM THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST REGION INTO EUROPE, REACHING AS FAR
EAST AS AZERBAIJAN AND AS FAR NORTH AS THE NETHERLANDS, IT IS THE GENUINELY
UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS IN GREECE THAT IS SETTING TONGUES WAGGING IN TRUE
SOAP OPERA FASHION!
first time in Greek broadcast history a soccer match has been out-rated
The explosion of the popularity of Turkish soap opera in an ever
by a soap opera.
growing number of countries around the world has been nothing if not
Greek commentators have struggled to explain the unprecedented
spectacular. The phenomenon began in 2007 with the transmission, on
success of Turkish drama on their airwaves. Leading media commentaPan-Arab satellite platform MBC of IKUL AL WARD (CROWN OF FLOWERS).
tor Kosmas Vidos suggested that the purchase of foreign soap operas
And, while it is true that this proved very popular, the really stagwas an easy and obvious move for Greek broadcasters suffering, along
gering success came in 2008 when MBC transmitted GUMUS (NOOR in
with the rest of the country, from the financial crisis. He also suggested
Arabic). Scheduled at 21.30 between THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW and
that the popularity with the Greek audience was indicative of the fact
the daily evening film, NOOR proved to be a massive hit. The season
that, in reality, Greece and Turkey have more in common culturally than
finale was watched by 85 million viewers aged fifteen and above, of
currently recognised.
which 50 million were women.
However, George Pleios, Professor of Media Studies at the University
Nor was this success a one off. Turkeyis blessed with a number
of Athens has a differof major drama proent explanation for
ducers, such as TRT,
ON THE OPENING DAY OF THE
BINBIR GECE’s success.
Calinos, ITV, TMC
WORLD CUP, WHEN SCHEDULED
Denying that its
Film, Inter Medya,
HEAD TO HEAD WITH FRANCE VS
popularity reflected
the
Samanyolu
URUGUAY, THE TURKISH SOAP
a recognition that the
Broadcasting Group
amongst many others,
GRABBED A 30.5% SHARE AGAINST two culture have a lot
in common, Profesand, between them
28.2% FOR THE WORLD CUP
sor Pleios suggested
they have produced
SOCCER, MARKING THE FIRST TIME
that while the Greek
a seemingly endless
IN GREEK BROADCAST HISTORY
media and Governstring of hits that has
A SOCCER MATCH HAS BEEN OUTment
had
always
seen Turkish drama
RATED BY A SOAP OPERA
found Turkey “tough
propelled to the very
to deal with in fortop of the ratings in
eign relations…Greece
a rapidly expanding
has always wanted to
list of countries such
be a part of Europe even though it has more in common with some
as Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
non-European societies.” And, believes Pleios, it is the dichotomy of
Azerbaijan and even the Netherlands. But surely the most impressive
having to watch Turkey assume the leading position in the region
feat is the conquest of the Greek airwaves.
that leads Greek society to watch Turkish soap operas in such massive
And, make no mistake this IS a conquest. BINBIR GECE (A THOUnumbers in order to assuage the sense of their lost place in the
SAND AND ONE NIGHTS) is dominating the Greek Prime Time on one of
international arena.
the country’s largest commercial channels, Ant1. Playing through June
Whatever the reason for the extraordinary success in such a
and July, the TMC Film production had an average share of 39.2% for
near rival country as Greece, what is beyond doubt is that from the
the day among total viewers. On July 8th it pulled 1.15 million viewers,
region of the Greater Middle East Region through Central and
well ahead of the 825,000 claimed by its nearest rival, Mega Channel’s
Eastern Europe and more recently parts of Western Europe, Turkish
FIFTY-FIFTY. And on the opening day of the World Cup, when scheddrama is on a very big roll, and the expansion of its popularity shows
uled head to head with France Vs Uruguay, the Turkish soap grabbed
no signs of waning. DL
a 30.5% share against 28.2% for the World Cup soccer, marking the
28
DISLINK
SEPTEMBER 2010
VOLUME 25