Dear colleagues and friends,
The global Black Lives Matter movement, coupled with the restlessness created by months-long lockdowns that have aggravated existing inequalities, seem to have created a real powder keg of reclamation against injustice worldwide.
The wind of change reached the Kenyan film industry this week as prominent Kenyan creatives, led by Cape-Town based artist and filmmaker Silas Miami under the hashtag #KECreativesDeserveBetter, came out against the entrenched racism of some white or foreign gatekeepers by sharing shocking tales of mistreatment. In a heartbreaking Facebook post, director Likarion Wainaina talked about his experience earning so little from his work on Supa Modo, one of Kenya’s most successful films and the country’s entry to the 2019 Oscars, that he was unable to pay his rent, among other traumas and indignities. The exploitation of black Kenyan cast and crew in the local film industry has been an open secret for decades. Speaking up against well-established and globally recognized white producers who are often the main purveyors of jobs or opportunities in the Kenyan film industry demanded a lot of courage. These conversations are hard but they eventually need to take place, and people have run out of patience. Who’s next?
This edition of HUSTLE & FLOW is packed with big media news. MultiChoice posted strong financial results despite a challenging global environment, while Nigeria’s content industry lived through a schizophrenic week, tugged between the celebration of Netflix’s multi-title deal with Nigerian producer Mo Abudu and shock at the National Broadcasting Commission’s attempt to ban content exclusivity, a move that threatens to (but probably won’t) stop the growth of the continent’s most dynamic film and TV industry in its tracks. I'll unpack all of this and more below.
Please continue to share this newsletter with your colleagues and friends who have an interest in the African entertainment space. They can subscribe here to receive HUSTLE & FLOW directly in their inbox every Monday. Previous editions can be consulted there. I always enjoy hearing from you so do reach out at marie@restless.global or on your favorite social media platform @marieloramungai.
Happy reading to all,
Marie
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Last week I mentioned the issue of Right of Way charges relating to cable infrastructure in Nigeria and linked to a Quartz article that incorrectly implied that Ekiti was the first and/or only state to lower such charges. However a HUSTLE & FLOW reader kindly informed me that several other states including Katsina, Plateau, Imo, Kaduna and Anambra had also lowered or even waived RoW charges in support of the national broadband plan. Please do not hesitate to drop me a line if you spot any mistake in this newsletter or if you have more information to share on a specific topic.
MOBILE
I received another valuable contribution from a loyal HUSTLE & FLOW reader this week who pointed me to this great resource: hyper-precise mobile coverage maps for 14 African countries made freely available by mobile network operators association GSMA and Masae Analytics. The lack of consumer data in Africa is a major challenge to decision-making for businesses, governments and development agencies, but satellite imagery and machine learning advances are starting to provide effective solutions. Tools such as Masae Analytics’ mobile coverage maps are not only useful for mobile operators themselves, but also for any business looking to leverage the mobile infrastructure to offer digital finance, marketing, e-commerce, or media services. Another leading player in the satellite data space is US-based startup Fraym, which has worked with organizations such as MasterCard and the African Development Bank to provide neighborhoods and rural districts level data.
No need to reinforce here how central and strategic the mobile telecommunications sector is to the development of African economies in general. In Ghana, the National Communications Authority has become concerned about the “significant market power” of MTN Ghana, which counts more than double the number of voice and data subscribers than competitors Vodafone and AirtelTigo. Ghana’s regulator is now looking at leveraging the playing field and curtailing MTN’s market dominance by implementing measures such as setting minimum and maximum prices for calls, texts, and mobile internet but also for mobile money services. Ghana has been Africa’s fastest-growing mobile money market in recent years.
One operator that has managed to avoid all attempts to regulate its dominant position so far is Safaricom. This week, the Kenyan telco launched new affordable data bundles (as low as $0.094 for up to 30 minutes) to use on YouTube content. According to Safaricom and to YouTube’s owner Google, both companies plan to exploit their digital capabilities and reach to deliver wide-ranging content in entertainment, education, news and sports to Kenyans.
FASHION
Back in May, HUSTLE & FLOW readers and pretty much everyone else out there loved Congolese designer Anifa Mvuemba’s groundbreaking 3D fashion show for her brand Hanifa, which quickly sold out as the Instagram video of the collection went viral. Last week in more Ex-Machina fashion news, South African “virtual model” Kim Zulu participated in the Russian Fashion Council’s Global Talents Digital event, which presented itself as the world's “first hybrid international online fashion project” combining real designer collections and digital ones. The brainchild of graphic designer Jason Campbell, Kim Zulu recently scored a modelling contract with international brand Kangol and is set to launch her first album and TV show. She was also listed as one of the top 12 virtual influencers to follow globally by Forbes, which made the point that “in the post-coronavirus reality of limited or inaccessible travel, the digital modeling domain is set to expand. In part, it is a practical question of easier logistics and simpler labor agreements.” Kim Zulu is far from the first or only black virtual model however, with the most famous ones being CGI-superstars Shudu and Koffi, who were controversially created by British photographer and 30-year-old white man Cameron-James Wilson. Wilson has since launched a digital-only talent agency. Confused by all this? Don’t know what to make of it? You are not alone.
Besides Kim’s coming out on the global fashion scene, Twitter and Instagram were flooded last week with beautiful images of black models thanks to the viral #VogueChallenge, where thousands of black creatives who have been largely neglected by the fashion industry imagined their own versions of Vogue covers. The challenge originated on TikTok in mid-May but took on a new meaning after the Black Lives Matter movement spread worldwide and Vogue editor Anna Wintour admitted that “Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators.” According to Teen Vogue, there has been only one black photographer to shoot a cover in the 127-year history of the publication, and only 21 black women have appeared on the cover on their own. Some of the artists even gave their covers the title Vogue Africa, a magazine that does not currently exist but whose concept Business of Fashion made a case for over two years ago.
London concept store Koibird is dedicating the summer to designers scouted at Lagos Fashion Week and committed to a sustainable approach to African fashion, using traditional materials and craftsmanship and supporting skilled local artisans. Koibird’s selection includes Studio One Eighty Nine, which produces its hand-dyed, woven and upcycled womenswear in Ghana, Nigerian androgynous brand Orange Culture, and South African shoe maker Galago. Nataal magazine profiles other sustainable African or produced-in-Africa brands such as Thebe Magugu, Ami Doshi Shah, Anyango Mpinga, Shekudo and Brother Vellies.
And finally, Anita de Werd, Head of Marketing and Business Development at world’s leading shipping line Maersk, talks to the AfDB’s Fashionomics platform about what her company is doing to facilitate the growth of Africa’s fashion industry and “push the #MakeInAfricaForAfrica ideal”. Maersk recently launched Twill, a new freight logistics service for small and medium-sized businesses that ships cargo door-to-door over land and sea. An important service for designers seeking to develop their pan-African market as, according to expert logistics company Solistica, close to 90% of Africa’s trade is carried out by sea.
MUSIC
I have talked at length in previous editions of HUSTLE & FLOW about the opportunities presented to the African music industry by the accelerated adoption of music streaming. Justin Norman has a good expose on the topic in The Flip where he tackles “the battle for African consumers”. Some notable insights are the challenges (adjusting prices on already slim margins, cost of data, piracy, and the importance of on-the-ground distribution strategy) that African markets represent for global players such as industry leader Spotify, which still operates at a loss globally. These challenges leave some room for competition from local players with distribution strategies involving telco deals. Norman also makes a good point by referencing Disney’s famous business model in which each product and business line (Disney+ platform, movies, comic books, theme parks, merchandising, etc) works to reinforce the company’s deep relationship with its customers in a highly profitable virtuous cycle. Telcos are the obvious top dogs when it comes to adopting such an integrated model to Africa, although Norman also mentions device manufacturers like BoomPlay owner Transsion (I’m a lot less convinced by that). I’d like to offer a third contender: super apps built on top of robust mobile payment systems such as OPay, Jumia Pay or even potentially Flutterwave.
Talking about monetizing music, Pulse Ghana has a list of Africa's richest musicians which includes the estimated net worths of artists like Akon, Don Jazzy, Wizkid and Davido (no word about Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade). I have absolutely no faith in these numbers but who doesn’t like lists? Meanwhile Burna Boy, who only gets a “notable mention” from Pulse for his net worth guesstimated at $4 million, cements his popularity on the French market as his single “Be honest” with Jorja Smith goes Platinum there. Burna Boy even tops Billboard’s list of 15 Sub-Saharan African artists based on global views, followed by Tanzanian bongo flava artist Diamond Platnumz and Davido. The Billboard article is worth reading for its analysis of the YouTube strategies of the African artists who have broken internationally as they could teach a thing or two to Western artists, according to YouTube music trends manager Kevin Meenan. Diamond Platnumz, for example, posted 600 videos in the span of a year, often following up on an official music video with a lyrics video, a dance version, a karaoke version without vocals and an animated rendering. That’s some real work right there.
SPORTS
The NGO La Guilde has announced the 13 winning microprojects of its Sports & Development program supported by Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD). The projects, which span 10 African countries and various disciplines from football to basketball, rugby, handball, triathlon and Basque pelota, will receive between 10 and 20,000 euros each to further educational, gender equality, health or environmental sustainability goals through sports. The Summer 2020 call for proposals is currently open until September 30, 2020. AFD has big ambitions to support the development of sports in Africa so we can hope to hear more from them soon.
Multichoice's SuperSport is adapting to the return of English Premier League and Spanish LaLiga matches and is warning fans that the broadcast of these matches will look and sound different from what they are used to because of the lack of live audiences. Broadcasters are expected to use virtual stands to simulate images of fans in the stadiums. On the plus side, new camera angles might now be possible from areas that would have previously obscured the action for live spectators.
And to wrap up this sports section, another aspirational list with what appears to be more solid numbers from our friends at Pulse: the richest African footballers of 2020.
BROADCAST
In South Africa, the embattled SABC has announced a switch to a new operating model called the "Target Operating Model,” which should allow it to be more financially sustainable and less reliant on government assistance. The state-owned enterprise, once a key player of the country’s television industry, embarked on a restructuring program in 2018 after admitting it was technically insolvent due to years of mismanagement.
On the other end of the spectrum, while the global broadcast industry is facing a major crisis due to the combined effect of the COVID-induced fall in advertising revenue and increased competition from VOD platforms, pan-African Pay-TV provider MultiChoice has released strong financial results for the year ending in March 2020. Its report shows a 38% growth in "core headline earnings" to $150 million and a 59% increase in consolidated free cash flow to $310 million, driven primarily by improvements from its businesses in the "Rest of Africa" (meaning outside of Multichoice’s home market of South Africa), which have in the past been a drag on the company’s revenues, and tight cost control. In total, MultiChoice reported 19,5 million subscribers across the continent, with 8,4 million in South Africa and 11,1 million in RoA. Four new local content channels were launched over the reporting period in RoA, bringing the group’s total number to 10 across the continent. The Pay-TV player aims to increase its production of local content from the 3,850 hours it achieved last year. In total, MultiChoice reported some $279 million spent on “Programme and film rights” last year, which combines money spent on local and international content including sports license rights. Although the company warned shareholders about future challenges linked to the COVID-19 and oil price crisis in several of its major markets, CEO Calvo Mawela said that the group’s healthy balance sheet “positions MultiChoice well to weather market uncertainties going forward." Also noted by industry observers was the announcement that MultiChoice had inked distribution deals with two major international SVOD providers, presumably Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, while its own SVOD service Showmax had started trialing sports content.
Meanwhile in Nigeria, the content industry was shocked by the announcement of new regulation by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) which seeks to ban content exclusivity, forcing broadcasters and platforms to sub-license their programs while also regulating license prices. IrokoTV CEO Jason Njoku immediately voiced his strong opposition to the proposed measures as they would “100% destroy PayTV in Nigeria.” For both Pay-TV services and VOD platforms, exclusive content is a major if not the main unique selling proposition to gain and retain subscribers and the motivation behind the players’ sustained investment in local films or series. NBC’s new broadcast code would directly threaten the value of such investments by compelling broadcasters and streamers to sub-license content to competitors whether or not they have recouped their initial investment. The convoluted text also stipulates that a broadcaster cannot transmit premium international sports content unless it also acquires a minimum of 30% equivalent local licencing of the same category, such as football for example. While these revisions to the broadcast code are motivated by the valid goal of providing more opportunities for smaller local channels to compete, the NBC was clearly ill-advised on how to achieve this objective - or not-at-all advised, according to industry professionals who complained about the lack of consultation. Let’s hope that the widespread outrage will lead the NBC to seek qualified counsel to review the text.
VOD
YouTube has set up a $100 million fund to help amplify black voices through new content on the platform, lining up Bear Witness, Take Action, a global conversation on racial justice hosted by Common and Keke Palmer, as the first project. No word on whether African creators will be included in this initiative, but it does not seem impossible.
Back to Nigeria, Pay-TV operator StarTimes and MTN have announced a strategic partnership which will see StarTimes offer its VOD content catalog, including live European sports streaming channels such as UEFA Europa League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Coppa Italia, as well as blockbuster movies, cartoons, news and documentaries to MTN subscribers at reduced data rates.
And I have kept the best for last, as without a doubt the most exciting news this week has been Netflix’s groundbreaking announcement of a multi-title deal with prolific Nigerian producer Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife to create two original series including one based on Lola Shoneyin’s best-selling debut novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, as well as a film adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka’s play Death and the King’s Horseman and multiple branded films. One of the unnamed projects is due to premiere on the platform in 2020. The deal is the first of its kind for Netflix in Africa and speaks volumes, both about the value the platform sees in Nigerian content, and about the foresight and dedication of Mo Abudu who started investing heavily to develop original content in Nigeria before anybody else even considered it. Abudu took to Instagram to talk about the 5 year journey to acquire and adapt Death and the King’s Horseman, while Secret Lives has reportedly been in development for 3 years. I for sure will be looking forward to watching those.