Viacom International Media Networks’ Raffaele Annecchino

Of all the global pay-TV channel operators active in the Middle East and Africa, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) is arguably the most committed to localization. Primarily targeting youth audiences with brands such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, VIMN has been investing in a raft of local productions as well as engaging with audiences through live events, consumer products and more. Raffaele Annecchino, the president and managing director for Southern and Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa at VIMN, shares the company’s strategy with TV MEA.

TV MEA: What’s driving Viacom’s overall business in the Middle East and Africa?
ANNECCHINO: We have been on a great journey that started ten years ago in Africa. At the moment, we are the leading international media company on the continent with ten channels, including brands like MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and more. In the Middle East, we’ve launched eight channels and nine brands in the last two years, including Nickelodeon Arabia, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, MTV Live HD, Comedy Central Arabia with a Spike block, VH1 and Paramount Channel.

We are first and foremost a content producer. Consumers go wherever they can find strong content and have a great experience. Technology allows viewers to create their own media itinerary based on their needs, so we focus on producing the best content and making it available on the platforms they prefer. In both these regions, our approach is “glocal,” which means a content strategy that combines international hits and local content to satisfy all the consumer needs.

In Africa, we have a fantastic partnership with MultiChoice, and we’re entering into the OTT digital world with partnerships with Showmax and iflix.

In the Middle East, we have a strong partnership with OSN, and we’re growing quickly in the recreation business. We’ve opened a Nickelodeon flagship store in The Dubai Mall, and we have lots of on-the-ground activities, including mall tours and popular live shows.

In addition, in Africa we have a strong ad-sales organization where we can provide not only conventional advertisements but also many opportunities in sponsorships, branded content and digital.

TV MEA: Are there significant differences between your businesses in the Middle East and those in Africa?
ANNECCHINO: The main difference is the way we distribute content. In the Middle East, the majority of the distribution goes to pay TV—linear and nonlinear—with OSN. We have a small kids’ block on MBC, and we have a strong presence in recreation. In Africa, we have a wider variety of distribution platforms, from pay TV to free-to-air blocks across the continent to OTT. There is a more advanced advertising market in Africa, and we have a big internal organization providing both conventional and nonconventional solutions to our clients.

Despite these differences, both Africa and the Middle East are similar in the sense that they have a larger youth audience compared to Europe, and those audiences are very technologically advanced. This is especially interesting for us, given that our main brands—MTV, MTV Base, BET, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central—are all targeting youth audiences.

TV MEA: Tell us about the opportunities you’re tapping into with OTT services.
ANNECCHINO: As in many other markets, we have seen a shift created by the addition of nonlinear and multiscreen viewing. We see this as complementary [to linear viewing]. Our research indicates that 64 percent of viewers consume more content overall after switching to multiplatform. For a major content provider like Viacom, this is a golden age. Traditional forms of consumption are not being abandoned. If we compare linear to online viewing, linear remains dominant; it is ahead in all 34 markets we surveyed, and in 22 of them, it still represents 2.5 times the online viewing. Even if multiscreen viewing is becoming more widespread, up to 71 percent of the audience is starting their viewing journey on linear.

In addition, in these markets in particular, mobile penetration is amazing. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have among the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world. Pay TV is also on the rise, especially in Africa and the Middle East. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of pay-TV subscribers will increase by 74 percent by 2023, up to 41 million. And I see the same trend in the Middle East, where pay-TV subscribers will increase by 7 million by 2021.

We see a situation where more content is consumed than ever, which is good for content providers like us since we can extract more value from our library. Regardless of the platform, content remains king, and we define brands as the queens, acting as guides for consumers. Audiences are also demanding more and more simplification. They want great content from trusted brands with as few subscriptions as possible. We are offering a curated proposition.

TV MEA: Tell us about your original production initiatives in the region.
ANNECCHINO: Our global strategy is about being “glocal.” We apply this to all of our brands. We have hits that can travel all over the world. At the same time, there is a big focus on getting closer to local cultures and local audiences. We have been active in Africa. MTV Shuga, which we created in 2009, examines youth life and covers safe sex and HIV awareness. It has won many international awards (the most recent include the World Media Festival Gold Award for Edutainment and the intermedia-globe Grand Award in 2016).

Nickelodeon Genius is a show in South Africa, supported by the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Science and Technology, where students from around the country take part in a [science and math] competition.

Comedy Central Roast Battle consists of seven shows [filmed in] South Africa, featuring top comedians competing in a series of quick-fire roast rounds, while shows like BET Buzz and Top Actor in South Africa are really important for making BET a much more local channel.

In the Middle East, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. are fully localized into Arabic. We have also discovered an amazing comedy scene in the Middle East—in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait. We were the first to start a stand-up show, Comedy Central Presents: Al Wagef, which recently featured more than 50 comedians.

We are mixing our international formats with the local culture and adapting those formats to be much more relevant and closer to the audience.

TV MEA: What have you been doing in the live-events space in the region?
ANNECCHINO: Events is a really important pillar of our strategy. We have the MTV Africa Music Awards, BET Experience, [Nickelodeon’s] NickFest and SlimeFest, and we did an international comedy festival in South Africa. We also participate regularly in the Cape Town International Animation Festival. We are trying to bring our brands closer to our fans. And this also becomes a great opportunity for our advertisers to communicate with their respective targets. We have a similar strategy in the Middle East. At the moment, it’s more of a focus on kids. We have a PAW Patrol Live! tour, and there’s the Nickelodeon store at The Dubai Mall. We have organized stand-up comedy events. Our objective is to grow our music events business in the Middle East.

TV MEA: How has the advertising market been?
ANNECCHINO: In Africa, we have a strong presence in South Africa and in Nigeria, where we have offices. We are focusing on those two, but as a next step, we are looking at new growing markets, such as Kenya, Ghana, Angola and Morocco. We are offering our ad-sales partners conventional ads as well as sponsorship events, branded content and digital solutions. We have a 360-degree offering for our advertisers as well as a 360-degree offering to our consumers.

In the Middle East, our content is distributed by OSN, with whom we have a sales contract, and we are also exploring nontraditional opportunities.

TV MEA: What are your other growth priorities over the next one to two years?
ANNECCHINO: We are investing a lot in the digital arena. For example, in the Middle East, we have a partnership with OSN for Nick Play, which is an app with Nickelodeon content, as well as content distribution with mobile operator Etisalat. In research leading up to the launch of Nick Play, our data showed that more than 44 percent of consumption by kids in MENA is on a computer, tablet or phone, presenting a great opportunity to launch a tailored mobile app with OSN to distribute our Nickelodeon content to this target. We would like to expand this digital experience to Africa, and we will also take advantage of the tremendous mobile penetration. This is possibly one of the most significant areas of opportunity. The other one for us is consumer products and recreation. We are focused heavily on growing our consumer products offering. At the same time, we have a lot of potential in the recreational world—including with Nickelodeon stores, theme parks and hotels.

Another important aspect of our business is corporate social responsibility (CSR). We have been proactive in a number of initiatives and pro-social campaigns in MEA. We supported the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital with [revenues from] the first African NickFest and slimed celebrities for the charity Surgeons for Little Lives at the second event last year. Comedy Central’s Famous Last Words gala is a stand-up event where we raise funds for the Smile Foundation, a children’s charity in South Africa. And MTV has always been part of the conversation around important topics for youth, with shows like MTV Base Meets interviewing Michelle Obama, Winnie Mandela and Bill Gates. MTV Shuga is the best example of a program that bridges entertainment and tackles relevant, sensitive subjects for youth audiences. Season six has premiered in South Africa, and the format is now being adapted in Egypt and India to address pertinent social factors for youth in those regions. CSR is in the DNA of Viacom, and we are accomplishing great missions, including in the Middle East and Africa.