What is exciting about the African TV industry is that it's still growing.
So says Alex Okosi, Viacom Africa's boss, saying it with a smile radiating confidence.
In a sit-down interview with me just before the recording of Comedy Central Africa's (DStv 122) latest Comedy Central Roast of AKA, the executive vice president and managing director of Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) and BET International - that's his full title - is not just optimistic about the future of television in Africa, he's positively excited.
While several TV executives across Africa are wondering with differing degrees of trepidation what the future holds for a fast-changing industry in a conflux where digital, millennials and video streaming are all pushing up against traditional pay-TV and creating massive challenges, change and uncertainty, Alex Okosi is very positive about the outlook for Viacom across the continent.
In a new wide-ranging interview, he revealed his latest thinking about Viacom Africa and how it fits inside Africa'a TV industry, its expanding local content slate plans, and the fit and focus of its diverse bouquet of TV channels.
Alex Okosi shares his insights about where the African content consumer is at, the future of the MTV Africa Music Awards, and how Viacom Africa is purposefully expanding into creating great content that can travel with viewers across whatever the platform is.
What in terms of challenges in South Africa and Nigeria as the two biggest TV markets in Africa, is making the situation that Viacom Africa is experiencing as part of the fast-changing TV industry, unique for Viacom compared to where Viacom is in America? As they move online with video content, is South Africa and Nigeria "half-online/half not-online"?
Alex Okosi: This is me being candid, I don't think we have any challenges. Quite frankly, we're in an exciting place."
We now have created an amazing background and backdrop for great content that can go throughout the world. We're obviously here tonight and we're doing a Comedy Central Roast of AKA and it's a global format that we have, this is our 4th time doing it, it's been highly successful every single time that we've done it.
So for me, I don't think that we're a step behind. I think the reality is that the African content is developing and evolving on a day-to-day basis. I think more and more people are coming online. I think that the cheaper data gets the more people there will be who is going to access even more content across the board.
We partnered with Showmax to do this Comedy Central Roast of AKA which I think is tremendous, because, again, they're pushing to create a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform with locally-relevant content, right? And I think that's powerful.
We now want to see ourselves more than ever before. Africans want to see African formats, with Africans in it, and African shows and African storylines and I think that that's what is really happening.
I think with platforms like Showmax and MultiChoice's DStv and everyone else, it doesn't just create more opportunities for our content but also to give to the rest to the world. You now see people picking up African series, you see people picking up African movies now that go beyond the continent, so for me, I think, truthfully, we are in an exciting time, where our content is working.
And where is the African consumer at the moment in terms of consuming digital content and being able to access and interact with it?
Alex Okosi: I think the African consumer - especially young people - are incredibly adept at digital content. You have to consider that the mobile phone is no longer even considered to be mobile anymore, right?
It's actually a device. An entertainment device that enables the consumer to connect to a whole bunch of other people. I think that with platforms like Whatsapp, Apple, Facebook and Instagram you see millions and millions of young Africans on there and being able to consume and share content. That's where we are.
We are really a part of this technological revolution that's happening and we are playing within it. There is, of course, going to be the challenges that we have that a lot of the continent is still poor, right?
The disposable income to spend a whole bunch of money on these platforms are not there, but young people will find a way to communicate, share content and enjoy content through mobile more than ever before and that's powerful about platforms like Showmax that's also trying to make sure that they capture value in that space.
What is the thought-process behind maybe making more back-catalogue of Viacom content available online or SVOD in the way that FOX does FOX+?
Alex Okosi: At this stage in the game we don't, as you will see globally, we're focused on being able to super-serve our audiences with great content, across whatever platform that it is.
We have our content on Showmax, we're trying to get our content everywhere without cannibalising our linear TV channels.
We understand that consumers are trying to enjoy content across many different spaces. Our job is to create really hot stuff. If it's hot, it enables us to monetise it in different spaces. So that's really been our focus.
We haven't been a platform player in going out to launch our own direct-to-consumer application in this market but again the idea is we focus on content, and we've been able to leverage our content to connect to consumers through our partnerships.
I want to ask, can you talk a little bit about each of your "children".
How happy are you with the alignment, position, channel propositions of Viacom's TV channels available in Africa. How is MTV changing or not changing and what's that focus? What's the focus for BET and Nickelodeon and Comedy Central?
[Interview was conducted before the announcement of the introduction of MTV Music 24.]
Alex Okosi: We're very excited about where we are. You look at MTV Base for instance, our focus - whether it's the rest of Africa feeds or the South African feed - it's to create great local content.
If you look at us with what we're doing in West Africa in Nigeria, we're the top channel right now in the market place based on the fact that we're creating local content. If you're looking in South Africa, we're obviously, again, pushing the brand and doing exciting stuff, especially in the music space.
We have an amazing, amazing format that we just did out of Durban that's very focused on a style of music called gqom, so obviously Gqom Nation is a show that was launched as a well-rated show.
On the Nickelodeon (DStv 305) front again, Nickelodeon remains the most popular brand under kids, we just did a NickFest in Nigeria including a character activation with a lot of kids.
Comedy Central Africa - what can I say - a big brand, even though it's just on DStv Premium the reality is that we've been able to make it a big brand.
We have an amazing new show that is going to come back for a second season, The Big Secret, that we're going to launch. We're planning on rolling out more local content every quarter on the BET brand which I think will enable us to create more traction.
Everything for us is leveraging our international library but becoming even more hyper-focused on producing local content that will connect with consumers.
Is there a kind of a move for MTV (DStv 130) - I don't know, I'm just asking - to move back towards more music, or does reality television remain the driver?
Alex Okosi: We have a music channel in terms of MTV Base with mostly music. I think that MTV has evolved into a lifestyle channel. So the reality aspect of it will also be there.
MTV Base is more urban music, more local music, so we're trying to also make sure that we serve audiences who may want more international music as well [with MTV Music 24].
Paramount Network as a premium TV channel. Would that be an option or viability for Africa or South Africa, or not for the foreseeable future?
I think the Paramount Network is a strong one because it's a great brand. For us at this stage, just looking at how do we make it happen and what the options are.
Our focus really is on the portfolio we have that is quite diverse.
I don't know if there's a need for another movie channel but we do know that it's a very powerful brand with a lot of great shows that have been launching that are not just movies that have shows that we also want to see how we can bring them.
The MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) that stopped, is there a possibility of reviving that or something like that to replace it?
We are working on those. What we don't want to do is bring a MAMAs to market that's same-old, same-old and is going to be watered down. We're really pushing to see how we can get the best MAMAs to happen again.
What makes you happy, personally, about the TV industry in South Africa specifically and Viacom Africa's place in it, and then also across Africa more broadly?
Alex Okosi: What makes me happy is that we're building a phenomenal network. In terms of an international network in the market we're the largest.
We have a very diverse portfolio. We now have a very powerful sales house that helps to monetise our brands, we're creating local content.
We now also started to represent some other channels, we represent Discovery for instance on the ad sales side. We also represent AMC on the ad sales side. So for us, we now have a strong portfolio of brands.
And for me, what is exciting about the African TV industry is that it's still growing. There's still a lot of people who are starting to subscribe to pay-TV, and who start to get DStv Compact in terms of a bouquet, and it's all growing from that standpoint. So that's exciting.
And what's also exciting is that our content - local content - is now important.
Our role in coming into the market as an international player and being a catalyst for quality local content has also been great. With everyone else in the market place also being invested in it, that's what's exciting to me - that we can now not only showcase more of our African content but there's also an ecosystem that can support it - both on TV but also off-television.
