The kickoff of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN 2023) is imminent, and this edition promises to be particularly closely followed, marked by profound changes in the way broadcasting rights have been marketed.
For the first time, several broadcasters will be showing all the matches, giving as many people as possible the opportunity to experience the event.
Until now, "free" rights were either purchased by pay-TV operators in order to retain exclusive broadcasting rights, or covered a selection of the best matches, leaving pay-TV channels with exclusive rights to broadcast all matches.
For the 2023 edition, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and New World, which acquired free-to-air TV rights for 46 African countries in mid-November, have decided to break new ground by allowing free-to-air channels to broadcast all matches and moving away from the concept of exclusivity. This is a real revolution in the highly organized world of sports rights.
In addition to CANAL+ CAN, which is available in all French-speaking African countries and will broadcast the entire competition on pay TV, the national channels that hold the free-to-air rights will also broadcast all the matches.
With just a few days to go before the opening ceremony, here is the list of channels involved
Cameroon: CRTV and CANAL2
Ivory Coast: RTI1 and La 3 (RTI group) and NCI
Gabon: Gabon 1st
Guinea: Guinean Radio and Television Broadcasting (RTG),
Mali: Mali Radio and Television Office (ORTM),
DR Congo: Congolese National Radio and Television (RTNC)
Senegal: RTS
Chad: Télé Tchad
In Ivory Coast and Cameroon, there will be three broadcasters: CANAL+ CAN, Groupe RTI, and NCI in Ivory Coast, and CANAL+CAN, CRTV, and Canal2 in Cameroon.
The benefits are clear for CAF, which gains maximum exposure for its competition, and for NEW WORLD, which maximizes its revenue by increasing its customer base. However, it is less obvious for broadcasters, who will have to engage in fierce competition to make their investment profitable.
The keys to success for broadcasters lie in effective communication and essential editorial enrichment.
Recruiting consultants or commentators, setting up special programs, defining pre- and post-match content, clearly defining the stakes of each match… these things cannot be done in a matter of days and require significant additional financial resources.
Only RTI, NCI, RTS, and CANAL+ have been able to implement such an enhanced editorial strategy over the past several weeks and increase their communications on social media and in the national media, targeting both the general public and advertisers.
This is not the case for all the other channels that signed contracts with New World TV in mid- or late December and did not have time to do so.
The coming weeks will be intense, not only in Ivorian stadiums but also for broadcasters.