According to Jeune Afrique, Africanews, the pan-African news channel launched in 2016, is to be sold to the Malagasy group SIPROMAD for $20 million.
Read also: Africanews launches its first pan-African advertising campaign
The Sipromad group, chaired by Madagascan businessman Ylias Akbaraly, has a wide range of activities (agribusiness, aviation, finance, industry, real estate, renewable energy, tourism, new technologies).
Its first foray into the media sector (in the broad sense) was through the acquisition of Thomson Broadcast, a company specializing in audiovisual transmission equipment and software.
As we mentioned in our report on news channels, pan-African news channels are difficult to make profitable due to the size of the pan-African advertising market and the vastness of the territory to be covered.
Sustainable financing is therefore provided either by public institutions or by long-term sponsors or investors who view news channels as an incomparable tool for influence and are not concerned with an immediate return on investment.
Will the SIPROMAD group be more patient than the Euronews-NBC group in supporting this high-quality channel over the long term? Will it be able to preserve the channel's editorial independence, a guarantee of quality and success with the public? Will it maintain the local editorial line that has been the strength of Africanews, an African channel made by Africans, in Africa?
Jeune Afrique's announcement of a possible relocation of the channel to Abu Dhabi is not the best news for African audiences from this point of view.