This presentation was a contribution to a panel at FIPA 2018 and provides an overview of Francophone broadcast markets, including FTA, Pay TV, You Tube and VoD.

1. FIPA - Francophone Sub-
Saharan African Audio-
Visual Markets
Russell Southwood, CEO, Balancing Act
www.balancingact-africa.com
@BalancingActAf

2. Balancing Act - What We Do
 Consultancy and Research in telecoms, Internet and media
in Sub-Saharan Africa for 18 years
 E-letters covering telecoms, Internet, broadcasting, digital
content in Africa and Innovation in Africa. These have a reach
of over 12,000. Free. Just give me your card
 A You Tube channel covering Creators and Innovators in
Africa. 900+ videos and just under 2,000 subscribers

4. Francophone African Markets - 1
Country Population (million)
DRC 77.2
Madagascar 24.2
Cameroon 23.3
Cote d’Ivoire 22.7
Niger 19.9
Burkina Faso 18.1
Mali 17.5
Senegal 15.1
Chad 14
Guinea (Conakry) 12.6

5. Francophone African Markets - 2
Country Population (million)
Rwanda 11.6
Burundi 11.1
Benin 10.5
Togo 7.3
Central African Republic 4.9
Congo-Brazzaville 4.6
Mauritania 4.3
Gabon 1.7
Mauritius 1.28
Djibouti 0.9
Comoros 0.7
Seychelles 0.093

6. Differences between markets
22 countries with a population of 303.5 million
 Disparities of wealth: Some quick GDP per capita (PPP)
comparisons. Mauritius (US$20,500); Gabon (US$19,000);
Cote d’Ivoire (US$3,600); Cameroon (US$3,300) vs Senegal
(US$2,500); Mali (US$2,100); Rwanda (US2,000)
Madagascar (US$1,500)
 Language: French-speaking countries but not everyone
speaks French. Senegal: 10% fluent; 21% partially. 80%
Wolof but 50% speak as second language. Rwanda: Majority
language Kinyarwanda not English or French.
 Major constraint on audience size :TV Coverage mirrors
distribution of electricity. With electricity: Senegal (60%); Mali
(37%); Benin (33%); Niger (25%); Madagascar (21%)
 BUT Mobile is media: Nearly all countries 60-70% mobile
reach with varying levels of data reach. 50% LTE coverage in
Senegal by end 2018

7. Free-To-Air TV
 Countries with only State-run FTA TV: Cote d’Ivoire (but
changing); Central African Republic; Mauritania (legislation to
change in 2010); Mauritius; Djibouti; Comoros; and
Seychelles
 Unlike Anglophone markets, there is no advertising
expenditure tracking (except in Senegal). In key markets,
more TV channels than available advertising (eg Cameroon)
 Main audience metrics from Mediametrie or proprietary
audience research
 DTT (TNT): Slow progress but in Senegal 17%+ have access
to a decoder. Leads to increase in number of channels and
further fragmentation
 Not yet widely distributed FTA satellite neighborhoods as in
Ghana and Nigeria
 High levels of pirated content

8. Pay-TV
 Dominant Pay TV player: Canal +: End 2016 692,000
subscribers in Africa. Togo: 66,000. Smaller local players.
 Relatively small base to make original programmes
compared to DStv
 Historical agreement with the other (Anglophone) dominant
player DStv. Talked of buying now defunct GTV but did not.
 DStv’s Sub-Saharan African operation has been up for sale.
Change in overall market dynamic with arrival of Kwese TV,
thus far concentrating on Anglophone Africa

9. VoD and You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aB2tqTYH44

10. VoD and You Tube
 Paradox: Many Africans pay US$2-4 per week for pirated
content but often said there’s no market for VoD
 Many local VoD players. Collapse of Afrostream. Summview
offering content + platform white label to mobile operators.
MTN TV, Cote d’Ivoire: 5-10,000 active users
 You Tube top 5 most used site in all African countries
analyzed by Alexa
Country Channel Subscribers Views – All
Cote d’Ivoire Afrika Toon 119,437 70.6 million
Cote d’Ivoire RTI Officiel 117,660 52.8 million
Senegal TFM 295,327 194.7 million
Burkina Faso Africartoon 3,797 0.87 million
Mali Sidike Diabate 204,750 80.5 million

11. Other
 Cinema: New MTN Movies house in Brazzaville. Number one
film box office: Welcome to the Gondwana of Mamane (Côte
d'Ivoire – France). Also new cinema in Abidjan. Vivendi
launching 4 CanalOlympia cinemas in Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Guinea and Niger.
 Diasporas: Thema TV’s Africa channels
 Cross-media: Cameroon’s Kiro’o Games signs movie deal
with Good Fear Films in Hollywood for movie based on its
game Aurion
 Futures: Digital Lab Africa: Supported by French Govt and
working with: VR, web creation, animation. Electric South
working on VR project in Senegal

12. Francophone Talent Stories

13. Key Events To Access Markets
 DISCOP – Runs in Abidjan (focused on Francophone
markets) and Johannesburg. The key buyers and sellers
market in Sub-Saharan Africa
 Nollywood Week – Runs annually in Paris and gets the best
of Nollywood
 AfricaCom – Annually in Cape Town with its TV Connect
brand.