How did YouTracePro come about?
Five years ago, Olivier Laouchez decided to embark on a major digital transformation of the TRACE group: the first step was the launch of Trace Play (now Trace Plus).
Then we had the following idea: the TRACE group has 28 television channels and thousands of music videos coming in every year. For example, we receive around 20,000 music videos per year and only select 8,000 of them. Proportionally, nearly 80% of music videos are not broadcast on television. Faced with this observation, we asked ourselves: what happens to these 80% of music videos?
The conditions for broadcasting a music video on our channels are defined according to our editorial policy. Each local TRACE channel has its own programming team and its own criteria for quality, brightness, theme, etc.
We started by recording them and listing them in a large spreadsheet. Then we thought: why not charge these artists an entry fee to broadcast their videos on a YouTube channel managed by Trace? That's how YouTracePro came about.
By chance, I met the founders of Daymolition, the first YouTube channel dedicated to French rap. A few years ago, they had the same idea as us, wanting to promote the thousands of street clips made by young people in the rap world, offering them a platform to express themselves and promote their content, and providing a video production service. Today, they have 2 million subscribers. So we decided to launch our own YouTube channel because this concept did not yet exist in Africa, and more generally in our Afro-urban world.
That's how the idea for YouTracePro was born.
What conclusions can you draw since your launch?
After a long period of reflection and benchmarking, we decided to create a real marketplace that connects artists and creators with video professionals. Over the past year, we have taken a keen interest in digital issues and engagement issues. The result: in a year and a half, we have gained 218,000 subscribers to our YouTube channel with over 21 million views and 17,000 registered users on our YouTracePro app
. How does YouTracePro work?
It's an app that allows you to order a video clip in less than five minutes in over 20 countries. We are present in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, Togo, Benin, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, France, Belgium, and Canada. Other launches are planned… When I say we are "present," I mean that we have film crews on site.
The artistic director of YouTracePro is Lucas Maggiori, one of the best French directors working today and producer of successful music videos (Gims, Dadju, etc.). He is based in Ivory Coast and has helped us expand across the continent.
To make a video, you need at least three people: a director, a cameraman, and an editor. To ensure that these videos are made properly, we appoint coordinators or executive producers in each of the countries where we operate. Today, we have more than 53 teams available in 20 countries.
So, every time a customer places an order on the app, the coordinator or executive producer instantly receives the request and processes it in less than eight days. We offer rates that are 30-40% cheaper than market prices to adapt to local conditions.
How are you received by the major players in the music industry on the continent?
Pretty well, actually. Some have even chosen to entrust us with developing artists. Beyond this project, there are many synergies to be created. Record labels face the same issues as all of us, namely not investing too much money in artists who are still relatively unknown. Thanks to our platform, we are becoming a trusted third party.
To consolidate the foundations of YouTracePro, we went to meet the most popular artists in each African country. Named "ambassadors," these artists agreed to participate in the production of a music video, which we co-produced and broadcast exclusively on our YouTube channel. What are your ambitions?
Our platform allows artists to express themselves, but also gives them the chance to be spotted by the Trace teams and have their music videos broadcast on television. Other synergies could also emerge with other entities that may need our services. We have skilled film crews in many countries, which can be very useful for creating video content, for example, or for democratizing and educating people about copyright issues.
Our offering allows us to reach out more broadly to other social media outlets looking for content production.
Today, we have a largely Ivorian, Congolese, and French clientele, and we now have a foothold in English-speaking Africa, in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria. Next year, we would like to be present in around 50 countries and have 200 operational and trained teams across the continent. Finally, we aim to open up our application to businesses, beyond creators, to enable them to create high-quality content tailored to the local market.
In short, we want to become the marketplace for the creative industries.