With registrations for the upcoming DISCOP Africa (February 24-26 in Dakar, Senegal) running ahead of those signed up this time last year –– and a follow up event slated for September 1-3 in Nairobi –– Africa has clearly become a focal point for the television business.
But to get a real assessment of the third DISCOP Africa’s status, VideoAge spoke to a few key players and asked them to provide some “nuts and bolts” information.
Event organizers, Paris-based Basic Lead told buyers to list the nature of content they will be looking to acquire in Dakar, and the responses from those registered early for the event (147 buyers from 89 companies as of December 2009) are as follows:
Seventy-eight percent of buyers will be looking to acquire TV series, 65 percent films, 64 percent documentaries, 62 percent telenovelas, 62 percent children’s content, 61 percent sports, 60 percent educational content, 48 percent game shows, 42 percent formats, 22 percent “Nollywood” (Nigerian features), 18 percent news and current affairs, and seven percent music. Six percent of buyers will be attending DISCOP Africa with hopes of acquiring entire channels.
Specifically, Ivan Rolande Dos Santos, buyer for Televisao Independente de Mozambique told VideoAge that he will be attending DISCOP Africa, “looking to acquire sitcoms, series and documentaries.” Dos Santos further noted that at the first DISCOP Africa, his company acquired three seasons of French football Ligue One from Canal Plus, five hours daily from France 24, and two seasons each of three different series from Sony.
The number of buyers looking to acquire entire channels is also impressive and reflects two important factors in the fast developing Sub-Saharan audiovisual business: the impact of satellite and Pay-TV operators and a general desire to buy in volume.
Of course, the thorny question became “how much do they pay?” London, England-based research, consultancy and publishing house Balancing Act (BA), which specializes in Africa’s audio-visual, telecoms and Internet industries, conducted a survey of buyers at DISCOP Africa’s second edition. Upon dividing content into “Premium,” “Standard,” and “Low Profile,” BA’s CEO Russell Southwood concluded that the following represented an accurate range of pricing.
Premium: U.S.$1,000 – 2,500 per hour.
Standard: $300 – $500 per hour “for most programs.”
Low Profile: $200 – $250 per hour.
However, these are simply guidelines. BA reported that in some instances, documentaries, which tend to be in demand, may command $800 per half-hour at the top end – or, the same as some American and European films. In the same survey, BA also noted some instances of formats with large SMS potential being delivered on a JV basis with a share of the revenue.
And then there is sport, which is the dominant TV content in Sub-Saharan Africa. And in most countries, “sport” means football. BA reported that in Nigeria, the English Premier League sold for $28 million, and The Cup Of Nations went for $4.38 million. The latter event sold for $3.4 million in Madagascar and $850,777 in Togo.
Whatever the nature of content, two things are for certain; it’s worth a lot more now in Sub-Saharan Africa than it ever has been before, and DISCOP Africa is the place to realize the potential of that value.
