Connectionivoirienne.net TNT: Tough competition for the audience in Ivory Coast<

Initiated in 2019, the deployment of digital terrestrial television is not yet complete. But already, viewers are enjoying a wealth of new programs. It remains for the new channels to find a solid economic model to make this liberalization of the audiovisual sector a success.

Since the launch of new channels in 2019, the monopoly of Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI) is no longer. Now viewers have a choice of six channels that are in fierce competition. In addition to the three offered by the public service, RTI 1, RTI 2 and RTI 3, three other private televisions have appeared on the screens: Life TV, A+ Ivoire and the New Ivorian Channel (NCI). A fourth continuous news channel, 7 Infos, has also received the green light from the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (Haca), and is preparing to broadcast by the end of the year.

“We opted for a controlled opening, with a limited number of projects. Today, we are proud of the quality of our television channels,” rejoices Amadou Coulibaly, Minister of Communication, Media and La Francophonie. Appointed on April 6, he must complete the digital terrestrial television (TNT) project, which was supposed to be fully operational in June 2020.

For now, the Ivorian Broadcasting Company (IDT) estimates that around 80% of the population is covered. But without taking into account the equipment of households in decoders, more complex to achieve than it seems. However, Amadou Coulibaly wants to be confident: “We will turn off the last analog signal by the end of this year. A race against time has therefore been launched to achieve the objective announced by the Minister, who has initiated a series of meetings with players in the sector since May.

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Tough battle for the audience

By Baudelaire Mieu – in Abidjan

While Côte d'Ivoire must switch entirely to digital terrestrial television by the end of the year, competition is already raging between the channels to capture the most viewers.

This is one of the challenges of the transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT): audience measurement to ensure a fair distribution of advertising revenue between the different channels.

In Côte d'Ivoire, where this market is estimated at between 10 and 13 billion CFA francs, this point is sensitive since there is not yet an audience measurement tool accepted by all players, public and private.

This is why the Minister of Communication, Amadou Coulibaly, has been working for several months on the realization of a consensual measure, to be carried out by the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (Haca), the regulator of the sector. In the meantime, the audience measurement war is in full swing, as evidenced by the proliferation of study publications.

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Audiovisual: who benefits from DTT?

By Christophe Le Bec

Still in progress, the deployment of digital terrestrial television south of the Sahara, which was due to be completed in 2015, has so far benefited Canal+ and StarTimes more than African channels and producers.

The transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT) takes time south of the Sahara. In June 2006, the representatives of the African governments had given themselves June 17, 2015 as the deadline for the extinction of the analogue signal, during a gathering in Geneva of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, agency of the United Nations).

Four years later, the signal continues to be picked up in French-speaking countries, with the nine States having taken the digital leap all located in Southern Africa and East Africa - and in the English-speaking area: Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, eSwatini, Mauritius, Rwanda and Uganda.

In Senegal, the extinction of the analogue signal has been postponed several times due to the difficulties of Excaf Telecom, a local group chosen as DTT partner, but also the electoral calendar, which made this change of channel politically risky before the February 2019 presidential campaign. Dakar now announces it for June 17, 2020, a new sub-Saharan deadline put forward by the ITU.

10% of Ivorians informedIn Côte d'Ivoire too, DTT is playing Arles. In 2016, the authorities validated the plans for four new private channels that will be available free of charge via DTT along with those of Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI). But, according to the latest barometer established by Médiamétrie in December 2018, only 10% of Ivorians were informed of the steps to take to be able to access it. So much so that the transition to DTT, announced for the end of 2015 and then for the end of 2018, has again been postponed until the end of 2020, even if the deployment of the network is well advanced. Cameroon, Benin, Mali or even Madagascar are in this same waltz-hesitation.

Initially, the deployment of DTT in Africa aimed, as everywhere else in the world, at two main objectives: freeing up frequencies for the telecoms industry and boosting audiovisual creation at the local level. For lawyer Rémy Fekete, freeing up capacity has become less crucial: "The deployment of next-generation telecom networks - 4G and 5G - is slower than expected on the continent. It motivates fewer operators, as evidenced by the lack of eagerness they show for these licenses compared to their past enthusiasm for 3G. »

In parallel with these networks, fiber optics is expanding rapidly, allowing high-speed internet traffic through this channel in most major sub-Saharan cities, where the viewing of videos on demand is exploding. “DTT seems to me to arrive very late, consumption habits are changing very quickly. Will there be a place for this channel when it's finally ready? asks Bernard Azria, owner of Côte Ouest, an audiovisual production company based in Abidjan which produces and distributes numerous programs.

An issue of national sovereigntyThere remains the second objective, that of boosting the creation of local content. “DTT is first and foremost a sovereignty issue for African states. It is a tool that allows them to impose local production quotas on channels that want to be selected in this free package regulated by the authorities”, argues Olivier Zegna-Rata, former director of thematic channels at France Télévisions and founder of the group. Afrik.com.

THE AFRICAN AUDIOVISUAL MARKET IS UNDER THE DOMINATION OF INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE BUNDLES, WHOSE CONTENT ESSENTIALLY COMES FROM OTHER CONTINENTS

This specialist recalls that the specifications signed in France in the early 2000s between the CSA and the channels selected for DTT, which specified the French share of program production, enabled a real revival of audiovisual creation in France.

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“The African audiovisual market is dominated by international satellite packages, whose content comes mainly from other continents. This is particularly the case in French-speaking Africa, where Canal+ dominates, followed by the Chinese StarTimes, while there are more truly African programs on the English-speaking side in the channels of the DStv bouquets, from the South African Naspers, leader in this area. , continues Olivier Zegna-Rata, who wrote a report on DTT in Cameroon.

Relentless struggle between the Chinese StarTimes and the French Canal+For the moment, it is mainly StarTimes, and not the local channels, which benefits from DTT. The Chinese group, which sells its services as an infrastructure installer, manager of multiplexes (free or pay channels) and content distributor, has indeed penetrated the sub-Saharan markets thanks to this transition to digital terrestrial. .

“When we started prospecting in Africa, in 2002, the vast majority of States had not started their digital transition process. In these countries, there was generally only one pay-TV operator, most often by satellite, in a situation of monopoly and charging prohibitive prices, argues Eric Xue, vice-president of the StarTimes group. We began to offer our technological expertise acquired in China to African governments and obtained our first DTT license in Rwanda in 2007”, continues the Chinese official, who claims for his group the place of the first DTT operator on the continent, with a broadcast of its bouquets through this channel in twelve sub-Saharan countries.

The South African Michael Dearham, vice-president of the Asian group, oversees the commercial aspect of its offer in Africa. A former West Coast VP, distributor of telenovelas, this broadcast veteran is best known for having been the sales director of M-Net, one of South Africa's largest media groups. -African Michael Dearham, vice-president of the Asian group, oversees the commercial aspect of its offer in Africa. A former West Coast VP, distributor of telenovelas, this broadcast veteran is best known for having been the sales director of M-Net, one of South Africa's largest media groups. © DR

What Eric Xue does not say is that StarTimes first displayed a hegemonic will. Although it signed numerous contracts on the continent between 2007 and 2013, offering turnkey DTT solutions, financing included, many sub-Saharan countries subsequently changed their minds, considering certain clauses to be leonine which ultimately made deployment extremely costly for the State, because of the concessionary fees received in return by StarTimes.

The Canal+ “pre-square”

Many refused to give it the dual role of manager of multiplexes and broadcaster of programs. In the end, some countries only assigned him the technical part of infrastructure installer – this is the case in Benin –, others gave him the possibility of making pay DTT, but most States do not. have not left to take care of the management of the multiplexes of free DTT. Contractual procrastination between governments and StarTimes which explains much of the delay in deployments.

If StarTimes took advantage of DTT but did not make the grand slam in the French-speaking area, it is in particular because of the strong mobilization of Canal+, piloted in Africa by David Mignot, who dearly defended what he regards as his backyard.

With the support of the French authorities – Fleur Pellerin, minister responsible for the digital economy from 2012 to 2014, organized meetings on the subject in Bercy with her African counterparts – the group lobbied to explain, according to him the risks – financial as well as in terms of sovereignty – involved in the choice to entrust DTT to StarTimes, thereby pointing out the lack of local content or even the unsuitability of the Chinese group's programs for African audiences. Even if it means masking the weak Africanization of the programs of the own Canal+ bouquets and other French media broadcast by satellite.

Neither creation of local channels, nor boom in African content

"On the French-speaking side, there are only three channels whose content is designed for sub-Saharan African viewers – A+ (of Canal+), Trace TV and BBlack – but they are all directed from Paris", admits Olivier Zegna-Rata, according to whom there are still not many people to meet the strong demand for audiovisual programs – shows, series and films – created locally.

IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE, THE SWITCH TO DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL COINCIDES WITH THE END OF RTI’S MONOPOLY OF PUBLIC CHANNELS

Because, while Canal+ and StarTimes are battling it out, local production is not really taking off. "There is no excitement in the audiovisual sector around DTT, with the sole exception of Côte d'Ivoire, where the transition to digital terrestrial coincides with the end of the monopoly of RTI's public channels" , notes Bernard Azria. The founder of Côte Ouest is in discussions with three of the four new Ivorian private channels – Life TV, NCI and Info 7 – regarding entertainment programs and remains on the lookout for new opportunities in other countries.

Elsewhere, notably in Senegal, DR Congo, Benin and Cameroon, where local private television groups have existed for a long time, some of them firmly established – such as the Futurs Médias group, of Youssou Ndour, in Senegal –, the The switch to DTT has so far not resulted in the creation of new channels or a boom in local production.

The digitization of programs, a technical challenge

"In Benin, eight channels have been selected for DTT, three public and five private (Canal3, Golfe TV Africa, Eden TV, TVT and Agribusiness TV), all of which were previously broadcast in analogue," says Serge Adjovi, head of the Agency for the development of digital.

For the moment, the priority for these private channels that pre-exist DTT and are intended to be broadcast there is the digitization of their programs – a technical challenge – and not the creation of local programs or series. Their fear is that they will not be profitable enough to pay TNT's broadcasting and regulatory fees. In Côte d'Ivoire, it should be around 610,000 euros per year and per channel.

“Ultimately, DTT is just a technology, viewers don’t care whether their program arrives via satellite, analogue, fiber or DTT. What matters to him is the program offer", says David Mignot, who recalls that his channel A+ Ivoire, launched in January 2019, exists independently of the launch of DTT in Côte d'Ivoire, since it is already available free of charge in its satellite packages.

Under-investment in television advertising “A+ Ivoire is a Free To Air television offer [accessible free of charge for those who have the equipment to receive it]. By positioning it on DTT, we have the opportunity to make the Canal+ group's offer known to a greater number of Ivorian viewers, not just to those equipped with satellite antennas", further specifies the manager, who no other similar project elsewhere in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa, for lack of a substantial advertising market.

To bring out strong private and public television channels, capable of investing in the production of quality programs made locally, the transition to DTT must necessarily be accompanied by other developments. The first of these is the implementation of audience measurements.

On the French-speaking side, Médiamétrie has positioned itself in this niche, which it considers to be an essential tool for taking off advertising revenues. “Apart from South Africa and Morocco, in most African countries, advertisers have no idea how many viewers are watching local channels, so there is underinvestment in advertising in television, in particular for the benefit of display," says Olivier Zegna-Rata.

The challenge of audience measurement

“The annual declarative audience measurement can be a beneficial first step to trigger the advertising mechanism, before the implementation of more regular, even automatic ratings tools,” suggests Arnaud Annebicque, Africa manager of Médiamétrie.

“Advertisers are completely in the dark. In countries like the DRC, for want of knowing which of the various local channels attracts the most viewers nationally, they divide their budget by the number of channels", regrets David Mignot, of Canal+, whose advertising department can, conversely, provide more precise information on the audience performance of these satellite channels at the pan-African level.

States are fully aware of this audience measurement challenge, but the weakness of their financial resources, already mobilized to pay for DTT infrastructure and the establishment of a national regulatory authority – it costs 46 million euros in total for Benin, financed by a syndicated loan from the West African Development Bank – cannot do much more. Ultimately, it is the ability of channels to monetize their presence on DTT through advertising that will make this transition to terrestrial digital a success or failure.

A significant budget for the States The deployment of DTT was estimated in 2016 by the firm Balancing Act-Africa at 450 million dollars for Nigeria and the DRC, and 70 million dollars for Kenya, Uganda and the Senegal. This includes infrastructure funding, the establishment of the regulatory authority, communication costs and set-top box subsidies. In Benin, the government announces an overall budget of $51 million, including $34 million for infrastructure alone ($37.5 million for the same component in Côte d'Ivoire).

Young-Africa