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How To Make Money In African Digital Entertainment

How To Make Money In African Digital Entertainment

As demand grows for African digital entertainment – online videos, music and gaming – content most likely to succeed is content that can be consumed easily on low-end mobile devices paid for without needing a bank account, says Nkiru Balonwu, CEO of the Spinlet Group.

Spinlet is a digital media distribution company focused on Africa-centric content. It was founded in Finland in 2006 and has offices in Lagos and San Francisco.

Balonwu will be a panelist at the upcoming AfricaCom 2015, scheduled for Nov. 17-19 in Cape Town.

The best way to monetize the content service in Africa is by providing the easiest access and payment methods for the target demographic, Balonwu said in a press release promoting AfricaCom 2015.

“Apart from infrastructure,” Balonwu said, “once we resolve (payments) across the continent, monetization will become more of a marketing function than a product innovation one.”

AfricaCom bills itself as the continent’s largest telecoms, ICT and tech event. Industry experts and representatives from digital entertainment companies around Africa will gather to discuss how everyone can make money, from operators and content providers to aggregators and VAS platform providers.

About 9,000 people attended AfricaCom 2014. It’s now in its 18th year and more are expected this year in Cape Town.

Orange, Millicom, Deezer, Africori, Unitel and Baziks Entertainment will be there.

Pippa Tshabalala, a South African gamer and writer, also plans to attend.

“There is a real need for good quality mobile games that speak to an African audience,” Tshabalala said in a prepared statement. “There are a number of local developers who are producing award-winning games that are being picked up for distribution on platforms like PS4 and Xbox One as well as PC and mobile.”

Africa may not have any large AAA studios producing games, “but I don’t see this as a bad thing,” Tshabalala said. “It gives us a real opportunity to innovate and develop unique content.”

At AfricaCom, Tshabalala will interview a group of gaming specialists from QCF Design, Make Games South Africa, Fuzzy Logic, Afroes and Google Play.

Discussion topics at Africa Com will include the following:

  • Developing local content: How can local content producers be supported and promoted to meet demand?
  • Yahoo’s strategy in Africa.
  • Is mobile gaming the next big thing in digital services in Africa?’
  • Examining the digital entertainment market: customer needs, services and revenue opportunity.
  • What are the business models for operators in digital entertainment: subscription, advertising, marketing, loyalty cost?
  • Embracing digital: an operator’s strategy to deliver attractive digital services and monetize them.