The curtain falls on 2021.
It has been a challenging year for Africa, but also a year full of projects. Many players have shown energy and initiative despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 has once again put the spotlight on innovative players and ambitious projects that have greatly contributed to energizing the ecosystem.
2022 opens up new prospects with the start of the year marked by the kick-off of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. This highly anticipated event promises a year of good fortune in the world of media, advertising, and digital technology.
Before we dive into this major sporting competition of 2022, let's look back at the 10 news stories that marked the continent in 2021.
Laughter takes Africa by storm
For the first time, the world of African comedy came together in Niamey on December 31 for the first edition of the African Laughter Awards (ARA). Initiated by the famous Mamane and his production company Gondwana City Productions, this grand ceremony was designed to reward the continent's best comedy talents. A total of seven awards were presented to talented artists, helping to foster emulation in the world of comedy. Rising star of Congolese comedy, Stéphanie Divine Poumou, known by her stage name "Stéphanie Bluetooth," won the award for revelation of the year.
The aim of these awards is to encourage emulation and motivation within the world of comedy. The media impact of the ARA, with prestigious partners such as Canal+, RFI, and France 24, will push comedians to work hard in the hope of being rewarded themselves and achieving continental and international recognition.
This event has greatly contributed to representing African comedy as a dynamic force on the national and international scene. The TRACE group also wanted to showcase African comedy talent in its own way with Trace Comedy, featuring a selection of artists from the industry in an exceptional show orchestrated by Digbeu Cravate from Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire.
A year punctuated by major events
The year 2020 was marked by the cancellation of almost all events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a particular impact on the cultural industry, the music sector, and sports.
The year 2021, on the other hand, has seen some rays of hope with a gradual resumption of events. Adicomdays, the major digital event, was able to take place for the fifth consecutive year.
For this fifth edition, the Adicomdays team once again confirmed its commitment to the digital communication ecosystem by enabling as many people as possible to attend the event virtually and physically. Under the theme of "STORYTELLING MADE IN AFRICA," Adicomdays took place in two major events, in Abidjan on October 28 and in Dakar in December for the grand Adicomawards ceremony.
Digital players on the continent were also able to attend the Assises de la Transformation Digitale en Afrique (ATDA). Co-organized in Morocco by CIO MAG, this 10th edition of the ATDA brought together all the players in the African digital sector.
Among the key lessons learned from such an event were that data protection must accompany digital development rather than slow it down, and that SMEs play an important role in digital development. To support them, it is crucial to create synergies between these structures and the digital giants in order to create an ecosystem conducive to the rise of tomorrow's digital leaders.
The offensive of the digital giants
Speaking of digital giants, 2021 has been a very productive year. Facebook, now META, has implemented a number of key investments and initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa, notably by committing to the development of innovation, helping businesses grow, and supporting content creators. META has supported the training of more than 80,000 SMEs in 13 countries through economic impact programs. Convinced of the potential of e-commerce development on the continent, META also announced in 2021 the launch of its marketplace in 37 countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, and the DRC.
Netflix is also getting involved! After broadcasting its 100% African original creations "Queen Sono" and "Blood and Water," the VOD giant is going even further in the "local" direction by launching initiatives to encourage the film industry on the African continent. Developing local content is all well and good, but to do so, it is necessary to identify talent pools on the continent. The company has therefore joined forces with the Realness Institute incubator, which is active in English-speaking countries, to train African screenwriters on a large scale. This confirms its ambition to invest in local content production to attract new subscribers. With a view to winning over audiences in emerging countries, Netflix recently made a big splash by launching a free offer in Kenya.
The digital giant has also signed a partnership with the production company Upper Room, formalizing its development in West Africa with new productions in French and African languages.
Africa tells its story in telenovelas
The African audiovisual landscape is already rich in romantic series, whether through channels entirely dedicated to this theme, such as Novelas TV, Nina Novelas, Passion Novelas, etc., or in the large time slots devoted to this audiovisual genre on public or private channels. With an 11.4% audience share across the eight countries studied in the Africascope 2020 study, NOVELAS TV significantly outperforms other pan-African channels. However, until now, these channels have mainly been fed by content from South America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, etc.) and, more recently, Turkey.
Behind the "telenovela" phenomenon is Côte Ouest Audiovisuel, the leader in content distribution in Africa. A pioneer and major player in the African audiovisual landscape, this company, created by Bernard Azria, was instrumental in introducing the telenovela phenomenon to the continent. In March 2021, Côte Ouest Audiovisuel announced the launch of a new channel, AFRO NOVELAS, a true innovation. The leading company made a major strategic decision by officially creating the first French-language channel dedicated to African romantic series.
There is now enough demand for these African telenovelas to quickly take the place of Latin American telenovelas. In my opinion, African telenovelas are set to attract even larger audiences than South American telenovelas because it is a format that speaks more to Africans
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Bernard Azria said in an interview with Adweknow.
With digital technology still in its infancy in French-speaking Africa, the actor also took advantage of 2021 to officially launch his SVOD platform: KIWI.
Streaming is gaining ground
Speaking of streaming, in August 2021, Digital TV Research published a study predicting 15.1 million paying subscribers to SVOD services in Africa by 2026. This forecast represents a threefold increase from the 5.1 million expected by the end of 2021.
Half of the additional 10 million will come from South Africa and Nigeria, which will each attract 2.3 million additional subscribers.
Among the major SVOD players, NETFLIX will account for 51% of the total number of subscribers by the end of 2021.
Digital development and the end of analog
On October 21, 2021, the Minister of Communication, Media, and Francophonie, Amadou Coulibaly, brought together all the players in the Ivorian audiovisual sector to launch the campaign to phase out analog television.
This campaign ended on November 13, 2021, with the definitive cessation of analog broadcasting in Côte d'Ivoire. The country has thus completed its transition from analog to digital television, which was initially implemented in 2012.
To date, the channels available on Ivorian DTT (in DTT numbering order) are: RTI1, RTI2, La 3, NCI, A+IVOIRE, LIFETV, and 7infos, which has so far only begun broadcasting via satellite.
The audiovisual landscape welcomes new television channels
The audiovisual landscape in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa has been enriched with new channels during 2021.
In addition to the launch of the Afro Novelas channel by Côte Ouest Audiovisuel, the TRACE group has officially launched a new television channel in Cameroon called TRACE Mboa, dedicated to Cameroonian music and culture. Following the success of its local channels such as Trace Kitoko, Trace Gospel and Trace Afrikora, the Trace Group is continuing to develop new local channels such as TRACE Mboa, in partnership with CANAL+.
In September, CANAL+ announced the launch of CANAL+ Pop to replace CANAL+ COMEDY. This new "100% show" channel features ambitious programming and a range of new entertainment programs.
In Cameroon, the new news channel Bnews1 enriched the country's audiovisual landscape on January 15. Created and directed by journalist Ernest OBAMA, former CEO and star presenter of Vision 4, Bnews1, whose "B" refers to the Bantu people, aims to be unifying and highlights its professionalism.
For its part, EDITIS has announced the joint launch with the CANAL+ group of Nathan TV, the first French-language educational channel in French-speaking Africa. This new channel brings together the expertise and know-how of Nathan, a specialist in school and extracurricular publishing within the Editis Group, and CANAL+. It is aimed at children aged 7 to 10 and offers daily French and math lessons linked to the school curriculum for each grade level.
New digital media
The continent's connected generation will also have access to new digital media offerings with the launch of BRUT's activities on the continent. The global benchmark for viral videos, founded by Renaud Le Van Kim, Guillaume Lacroix, and Laurent Lucas, is spreading its wings across Africa, where the expansion of the internet is gaining momentum, driven by an increasingly connected younger generation. The media outlet has launched four new pages targeting Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Morocco, and Tunisia. Journalist Haby Niakaté, head of the editorial team for the talk show "Le Chœur des Femmes" on CANAL+ Elles, is the editor-in-chief of Brut Afrique.
With its "fresh, daring, and offbeat" style, Adamant is also offering advertisers a communication platform dedicated to younger generations in 2021. Through short programs, it addresses social media entertainment topics thanks to a network of influencers, producers, bloggers, and media experts from both French-speaking and English-speaking Africa.
Thanks to these 100% mobile and free videos, the media now brings together a community of more than one million subscribers on Facebook and 15 million consumers across the continent and its diaspora.
Reality TV codes have conquered the continent
The "reality TV" wave is sweeping across the African continent.
The television genre is increasingly popular with African audiences. To meet this new demand, many players in the audiovisual landscape are adapting famous Western shows for their audiences, while others are experimenting with new concepts.
Beyond its commitment to the original creation of African content, particularly series, CANAL+ is participating in the development of reality TV on the continent.
Reality TV is a natural evolution for any audiovisual landscape. This is particularly true in French-speaking Africa, where African audiences are already fond of reality TV formats that they know from their broadcast on French channels distributed by CANAL+ packages. The CANAL+ group has been a pioneer in this field with the production and broadcast on A+ of the talent show Island Africa Talent…"
says Nathalie Folloroux, Director of Canal+ channels at Canal+ International.
The incumbent operator has thus launched an African version of the show 4 MARIAGES POUR UNE LUNE DE MIEL (4 Weddings for a Honeymoon), which has been successfully broadcast on TF1 for six seasons since 2011.
Finally, reality TV is also playing an increasingly important role in the 2021/2022 schedule of Life TV, the Ivorian DTT channel. Here are some of the programs being rolled out for the new year: "Le Djai," an adventure reality TV show with a prize of 10 million CFA francs, and "Inside," a reality TV show featuring young contestants competing in challenges for a prize of 10,000,000 CFA francs.
What's new in business news
- Mohamed Salah and Didier Drogba are among Africa's most influential athletes, according to Sport News Africa.
- Nigeria, Africa's leading power, has officially launched its cryptocurrency, the eNaira.
- Opinion & Public, based in Ivory Coast, has become a full partner of the BCW brand.
- AFP and Google reach agreement on remuneration for content used
- The international group Avisa Partners announces the acquisition of the communications agency specializing in Africa, 35°Nord.
- Kawarizmi launches the first programmatic DOOH campaign in Africa for AirFrance.