A short overview of African broadcast markets presented at DISCOP Istanbul 2016.

1. It’s a Small World – Africa
DISCOP Istanbul 2016
Russell Southwood, CEO, Balancing Act

3. • Rights territories split: MENA vs
Sub-Saharan Africa. Quite distinct
and different regional markets
• Over 50+ countries from the very
Small (Sao Tome – 150,000) to
the enormous (Nigeria – 180 m)
• Vast differences in wealth, both
Between countries (Mali vs SA)
and within countries)
BUT
• Number of key markets with
opportunities is much smaller:
Anglophone: South Africa, Nigeria,
Ghana, East Africa (KE, TZ, UG) and
Angola plus Ethiopia
Francophone: Senegal and CI

4. The tower of babel - languages
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50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
English Arabic French Swahili Hausa Portuguese
•The rise and rise of vernacular radio
•Local language TV content (Inspeckta Mwala)
2000+
Languages
But…

5. Number of Terrestrial African
Channels – 2011 and 2014
2011 2014 exc DTT
bouquets
2014 inc DTT
bouquets
292 429 891
Satellite channels: 2000+

6. Number of Channels Per
Country
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50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
CapeVerde
Gambia
SaoTome
Seychelles
CentralAfRep
Chad
Djibou
EqGuinea
Eritrea
Guinea-Bissau
Swaziland
Botswana
Guinea
SierraLeone
Comoros
Lesotho
Mali
Togo
Mauritania
Congo-B
Coted'Ivoire
Zimbabwe
BurkinaFaso
Gabon
Libya
Somalia
Tunisia
SouthSudan
Liberia
Benin
Niger
Sudan
Algeria
Angola
Ethiopia
Morocco
Senegal
SouthAfrica
Maurius
Cameroon
Malawi
Egypt
Namibia
Madagascar
Mozambique
Burundi
Zambia
Ghana
Rwanda
Tanzania
DRC
Uganda
Kenya
Nigeria
Number of Projected TV Channels Per Country

7. 6 Factors Affecting Growth
1. Liberalisation: Match 2014 25 out of 48 Sub-Saharan
African countries had completely liberalized (both radio
and TV), 15 partially liberalized (radio only) and 8 not
liberalized. 4may grant private Free-To-Air licences over
the next 5 years: these include: Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia,
Mali and Zimbabwe
2. Advertising spend: Continues to grow but misleading
because of discounting. Only 6 countries tracked.
3. Fragmentation:
 Country/category Ghana Senegal Tanzania
 No of TV stations 8 17 19
 Key players
 (Ever watched 25%+) 4 11 8

8. 6 Factors Affecting Growth
4. Significant increase in DTT channels but not enough ad
spend to support most of them in the long term. But shift from
time-based programming to Pay TV, themed programming
5. Majority of TV audiences found in dense urban areas with
access to electricity. Changing with increased access to
electricity and solar powered TVs
6. More delivery platforms – over 100 VoD platforms across
Africa. Arrival of Netflix. Few bigger players like iROKO and
Buni TV. Issues with cost of data and network delivery.

9. The commercial break
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