Business
Glo Nigeria launches video on demand platform as service and content grow in Africa
Operating video on demand platforms is proving to be a tough call for Africa’s cellular operators. At present, many do not have the network capacity to support video streaming by any great number of subscribers.
There are currently about 74 video on demand platforms operating in Africa either on the Internet, via satellite, through mobile apps – and mostly these are Over-The-Top services. The vast majority of these platforms have been set up by independent entrepreneurs and although they may have operating alliances with mobile operators, they are not operated by them.
Africa’s cellular operators have a number of options when it comes to film and TV video on demand platforms. These include the following:
– Ignore it: It is a troublesome business that we know nothing about, the revenues are over-hyped and we are going to get the data revenues from video streaming whether we play in the space or not.
– Get someone else to do it for us: There are many international suppliers who will provide a catalog of international movies and TV content. Unfortunately, most users are interested in a mix of content with the skew mainly towards local or African content. Make alliances with local video on demand operators as South Africa’s MTN has done with DoBox and Afrinolly in Nigeria and others will do elsewhere. This way you get to see their traffic figures and can take their business for yourself later if you want it.
– Do it yourself: Because they are vertically integrated like the former incumbents, they tend to believe they can and should do everything.
– Buy yourself an operation: Although not a film and TV platform, this is what MTN has done in the music area by acquiring the media and content business Content Connect Africa.
Earlier this month, Nigerian cellular carrier Glo Nigeria, announced the launch of its video on demand platform – Glo Total Entertainment. The new platform gives subscribers access to sports, movie trailers, comedy, celebrity gossip, TV series and music videos, which can be accessed using a mobile app on all major smartphone platforms. Subscription to Glo Total Entertainment costs NGN100 (US$ 0.62) a month in addition to data charges.
Glo Nigeria has adopted MTN’s model and formed a business alliance with both DoBox and Afrinolly.
Elsewhere on the African continent, Ivory Coast-based cellular provider Moov has also responded to MTN’s play offer by bringing in French content distributor, Summview, to provide the back-end and content for its video on demand streaming offer.
With the upgrade on cellular services to 4G and LTE ramping up rapidly on the continent, video on demand services are expected to grow equally fast.
Source: Balancing Act Africa