With the increasing globalization of the media market, DISCOP Johannesburg 2019 hosted a panel discussion on the growing importance of dubbing and subtitling content that can travel.<\/p>\n
\u201cDubbing is an important and critical tool and also a cost-effective tool to deliver on the mandate to deliver premium content to our viewers,\u201d says Jacqueline Hlongwane, programming manager for SABC2. South Africa Broadcasting Company channels have to deliver 65 percent local content, 70 to 80 percent of which must be local-language, excluding English. “You can imagine what that means. We have three channels and so many hours in the day. And only so much in terms of budget. We can\u2019t duplicate. We have to be really creative.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as what ends up on the slate, Hlongwane puts a premium on quality. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the quality of the content, the story and whether people can resonate with these characters,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing. There\u2019s no point in dubbing something that people don\u2019t want to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Hlongwane, dubbing works best in South Africa with children\u2019s content and animation. South African adults are not necessarily accustomed to watching dubbed television, making it a less useful tool at the moment for dramas and other such scripted programming geared toward them\u2014though there are signs this could change. \u201cIt is a cost-effective way of producing content, and a way to continue to promote our local language,\u201d says Hlongwane, adding that having kids\u2019 content dubbed into the local language \u201cis really great because kids can hear their languages while watching world-class content.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Vubiquity, one of the world\u2019s largest content aggregators, \u201clocalization is extremely important,\u201d says Jason Keiles, the company\u2019s VP of global content strategy. \u201cWe do oftentimes take international content and localize it for our customers. Whether it’s dubbed or subtitled, we want to make sure the content is being consumed by as many people as possible and consumed in a way that makes sense to them.\u201d Keiles adds, \u201cQuality of story, acting, all need to be there and goes hand-in-hand in how that content is delivered in non-native markets in dubbed language.\u201d<\/p>\n
As SABC prepares to enter the digital space with a direct-to-consumer offering, Hlongwane believes that the broadcaster will have more room to cater to its diverse audience base. \u201cIn a digital space, you\u2019re able to have dedicated channels for a particular audience,\u201d she says, explaining how challenging it can be to speak to so many cultures. \u201cWe\u2019re not doing enough, but we’re doing the best we can. In a DTT [Digital Terrestrial Television] space, we\u2019ll have more space. The sooner we get into that space the better for us and our viewers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already in the digital space is The Africa Channel. \u201cWe have two strategies when it comes to African content\u2014obviously the linear channel\u2014and the OTT platform speaks to exporting African content to audiences outside the continent,\u201d explains Brendan Gabriel, VP of production and creative director for The Africa Channel. \u201cFor our linear channel, there are limitations. The content we have to take for The Africa Channel has to be predominantly in English,\u201d Gabriel adds, noting that the company has some solid shows coming out of the continent that are subtitled in English to make them accessible to North American and Caribbean audiences.<\/p>\n
With that being said, with The Africa Channel\u2019s Demand Africa OTT service, the company has a broader mandate for local-language. \u201cSubtitles once again are very important,\u201d says Gabriel. \u201cIt opens up that audience even more.\u201d For The Africa Channel\u2019s original development, it is producing a lot of content in English to export back into Africa as well as to the West and the East. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to portray a narrative of Africa we don\u2019t see enough,\u201d says Gabriel. \u201cOne way of making it tangible to the audience is producing in English. The other way is dubbing our content into local languages and distributing it into those countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Africa Channel wants to broaden audiences\u2019 perspective on Africa and the content it produces with great quality productions with relevant characters that resonate. Dubbing is something that the company has explored. \u201cWe\u2019re new in the game for championing this narrative, which we\u2019ve been trying to do for the last 12 years,\u201d Gabriel says. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see how we\u2019ve managed to spark interest in places like Spain in African content that we\u2019ve produced.\u201d Though The Africa Channel\u2019s strategy remains focused on English, it would like to evolve its OTT platform to cater to French-, Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking peoples.<\/p>\n
Vubiquity, which acquires most of its African content to redistribute within the continent, also has plans to expand its mandate. \u201cWe have a large presence in the U.S.,\u201d says Keiles. “There\u2019s ultimately an opportunity to send African content there, but right now, we\u2019re focused on serving Africa-based customers with African content.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the appetite for international content\u2014including African content\u2014grows, SABC wants to amp up its efforts to produce its own titles. \u201cWe need to be producing our own animation with South African performers that can be distributed around the world,\u201d says Hlongwane. \u201cDubbed content is a way of selling your own country, your own culture so people can see how amazing South Africa is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hlongwane adds, \u201cSome of our content is really universal in terms of stories. There\u2019s an appetite, but there are challenges around languages and things like that.\u201d However, the opportunity is there. An SABC1 flagship program has been dubbed into French and is being broadcast in Francophone Africa and will soon be broadcast on Canal+ in France. \u201cThe feedback has been phenomenal.\u201d With that positive feedback and a library with thousands of hours of content waiting to be exploited, Hlongwane believes that the way forward to up revenue is to think of content in a more multidimensional way\u2014imagining where it could travel to at the outset and preparing for the eventuality. \u201cPeople are interested in South Africa,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re short on content or stories. It\u2019s how we organize ourselves and how we work\u2014not only for foreign territories\u2014but also just for us in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Summing up one of the tools to bring diverse content to diverse viewers within and without Africa and its countries, Hlongwane says, \u201cAt the end of the day, we need to remember dubbing is an art. You\u2019re trying to recreate what the original scriptwriters, the conceptualizers of that piece of content [made], in a different language. It is a creative process and we must always remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the increasing globalization of the media market, DISCOP Johannesburg 2019 hosted a panel discussion on the growing importance of dubbing and subtitling content that can travel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1033,"featured_media":2030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[235,453],"class_list":["post-2029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-discop-johannesburg","tag-discop-johannesburg-2019"],"yoast_head":"\n