Long considered too expensive to produce, major international entertainment formats have now conquered French-speaking Africa. These major international formats are now ubiquitous, particularly in the programming schedules of pan-African channels in French-speaking Africa.
CANAL+ is the most active group in this field through its channels A+, CANAL+POP, and more recently CANAL+ MAGIC. But Vox Africa and TV5 Monde also offer programs that showcase the continent's talent through increasingly ambitious local and regional productions.
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Secret Story Afrique made a lasting impression in its first season, broadcast in 2024 on CANAL+ POP. Building on this success, the program returns for a second season on CANAL+ MAGIC, the latest addition to the CANAL+ family of channels: 18 contestants, 8 weeks of adventure, secrets to protect… and 20 million CFA francs to be won!
The Voice Afrique Francophone, the benchmark talent show, was launched in 2016 on Vox Africa and then suspended during COVID. A new season entirely devoted to Côte d'Ivoire was broadcast in April/May 2024 on Vox Africa. Still sponsored by NESCAFE, without which the show would not have been possible, the program even had a version called The Voice Kids Afrique in 2022, showcasing the continent's youngest talents.
Africa's Got Talent: the big comeback. Launched nearly 10 years ago, then discontinued due to lack of funding, the show is returning in 2025 on A+ for a second season that will showcase talented singers, dancers, acrobats, and magicians from all over Africa.
Very active in broadcasting reality TV and talent shows, CANAL+ launched Nouvelle Reine last June, a program broadcast on CANAL+POP that combines beauty and talent contests. Following auditions held in Abidjan, Brazzaville, Conakry, Cotonou, Dakar, Douala, Libreville, and Kinshasa, 21 young women were selected by a jury consisting of Adama Paris, Singuila, and Awa Sanoko to join the Academy of Queens and compete to become the New Queen. This season, her name is YUYU.
Romantic relationships are also one of the major themes of reality TV:
The Bachelor Africa and 4 Weddings for a Honeymoon, broadcast in 2024 on CANAL+ POP, were also popular successes and provoked passionate reactions, even leading to the suspension of The Bachelor in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But French-speaking African channels are no longer content to adapt foreign concepts: they are also inventing their own formats. From its launch, LIFE TV chose to invest in this type of program by offering several shows, some of which have stood the test of time. Jeunes Mansa, which aims to support young entrepreneurs or creators seeking financing in collaboration with MANSA BANK, is now in its fourth season.
TV5 Monde has also launched Les nouveaux boss (The New Bosses), a program that follows the journey of entrepreneurs from across the continent who are supported in the realization of their projects by four mentors. The ten finalists will have the opportunity to convince an international jury of investors and could win up to €500,000 to turn their projects into reality.