An Oasis of Opportunity

This article originally appeared in the MIPTV 2010 issue of TV Middle East & Africa.

 

Broadcasters from across the Middle East and Africa have been stocking their shelves with a variety of genres. From current-affairs programs to movies, drama, entertainment and lifestyle, the schedules of the major players in these regions are being filled with content acquired from across the globe.

 

As a public broadcaster, SABC 2 of South Africa delivers a full range of programming, including news, factual, children’s, sports and entertainment. “We call ourselves the Channel for the Nation, as we broadcast in seven languages and carry the largest local public-service broadcasting mandate in South Africa,” says Bessie Tugwana, the channel’s general manager.

 

The channel targets an audience—with an average age of 35—that rates between 5 and 7 on the living-standard measure used in South Africa to identify demographics, with 1 being the lowest standard of living and 10 being the highest.

 

Around 85 percent of SABC 2’s prime-time grid is made up of local content, and “70 percent of prime time must be delivered in languages other than English as per our mandate from the regulator,” Tugwana explains. Some of the most recent additions to the schedule have been local commissions, with titles such Shoreline and SA’s Got Talent. Tugwana notes that in the overall grid, entertainment formats have been some of the top performers; she points to Strictly Come Dancing and Got Talent.

As for her buying remit, Tugwana says, “We are looking for cost-effective entertainment properties for Saturday prime time as well as quality content from and about the continent of Africa.” She adds, “We are open to advertiser-funded content.”

 

Ignition and The Home Channel are niche networks in South Africa. Both deliver lifestyle and factual programming with a bit of reality mixed in, according to Elana Closenberg, the head of acquisitions for the two channels. The Home Channel draws a predominantly female audience in the 35-plus range, but Closenberg says that there is a definite male presence among viewers. Ignition’s audience is predominantly male, mostly in the 24-plus group, but attracts females as well.

Viewers of both channels are particularly keen on British programming. “We are always on the lookout for top-quality gardening, design, décor, do-it-yourself, home improvement and property series for The Home Channel, and motoring shows for Ignition,” says Closenberg. This has led to the recent pickups of Holmes Inspection, World’s Greenest Homes, The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price, Carbon Black Millionaire’s Club and Auto Mundial.

“The majority of our shows are acquired from international distributors,” Closenberg notes. “However, this year our internal production division is producing five local shows for The Home Channel, and Ignition produces a weekly magazine series.”

 

Acquired product that is performing well includes shows centered on strong personalities who are experts in their fields. “All the Debbie Travis shows have been an amazing success.” (Travis is a host of home-decorating and improvement shows.) “Debbie has been a presence on the channel since launch. Mike Holmes has also been a great hit, and we look forward to the South African launch of his new series, Holmes Inspection.”

 

Lifestyle also has its place in the schedule of Viasat 1 of Ghana. “Viasat 1 is one of Ghana’s biggest entertainment channels, bringing the best football”—UEFA Champions League and English Premier League—“U.S. and African movies, dramas, entertainment and lifestyle programs to viewers all over the country,” explains programming director Chris Lumb.

 

Viasat 1 has a broad target of 15 to 49, with a primary focus on the 15-to-34 set. Lumb says he’s seeking out strong English-language African movies, drama and entertainment shows with high production values to serve this audience. He notes that the majority of the programming on Viasat 1 comes from international distributors, and is often picked up on an exclusive basis for Ghana. “We are in the process of considering several projects in Ghana and plan for the amount of locally produced programming to increase substantially in the medium term.”

 

Lumb is looking to the international market to fill a number of slots on the channel. “We require Ghanaian TV premiere programming about subjects that appeal to Ghanaians, with excellent production values.” He also says new English-language African movies and series are on his shopping list.

 

“The channel strategy of having a broad mix of U.S. and strong African content has worked very well,” Lumb notes. “We have long-running deals with several U.S. studios and African distributors that have enabled us to acquire large amounts of very strong programming.”

 

Acquisitions from U.S. studios such as Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox are among the recent pickups for Nigeria’s Hi Mix. The channel’s content manager, Akinade Olafusi, points to features and series from Warner Bros. as some of the most successful programming on the slate.

 

Hi Mix, which targets the 15-to-40 age group, features a broad range of genres, from hit dramas and sitcoms to blockbuster movies, talk shows, specials and lifestyle programming. The general-entertainment channel looks to the international market as its main source for content, Olafusi notes. He says what’s still needed is more features, comedies, talk shows, sitcoms and telenovelas. Specifically, Olafusi is looking for movies made in 2006 and later, along with short clips or interstitial content and mini-series.

 

Over in Morocco, 2M has a similar programming remit. A free-to-air broadcaster, 2M carries a wide variety of programs, including news, dramas and talk shows, and is suitable for all members of a family. The Arabic-language channel also boasts a lineup of series for kids and a roster of sporting events.

 

The channel’s program manager, Zouhair Zrioui, says the schedule is broken down about fifty-fifty between local productions or commissions and content acquired from the international market. Recent pickups include India: A Love Story, which won the International Emmy Award for best telenovela in 2009, as well as the latest season of the hit crime drama CSI. Zrioui says he is looking across all categories for new acquisitions, and is particularly keen to pick up some more fiction programming that can be dubbed.

 

Al Jazeera Documentary Channel has a more specific buying mandate. The network, available across the Middle East and North Africa in Arabic, delivers factual programming that touches on issues of human rights as well as social, religious and spiritual topics. There’s also programming focused on nature and the environment, looking at wildlife, geography and water issues. Politics and current affairs are on the slate, touching on topics concerning economics, business and energy. The rest of the schedule is rounded out with programming that varies from travel, culture, food and art, to history, biography, science and technology.

 

Ahmed Mahfouz, the director of Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, says that for 2009, in-house production amounted to 200 hours, while acquisitions were 700 hours. He says that the channel’s goal for 2010 is to reach 300 hours for original productions and 1,500 hours of acquired content. At MIPTV, Mahfouz and his team will be looking for programming that features food, along with lifestyle and travel documentaries that focus on the Far East.

 

The consensus is that there’s room for a variety of different programming on the screens in the Middle East and Africa, which is sure to be good news for all distributors that are working to expand their reach.