Entrepreneurs are towing the path of pay TV business and seeking ways to make money, writes Ozioma Ubabukoh

If you have been following the developments of pay TV platforms in Nigeria through apps, you will have no doubt noticed that they have dramatically increased the number of channels. Soon, even the newcomers like Kwese TV, TStv, among others, will have more than 100 high-quality channels where viewers will see more movies, series, news, dramas, documentaries, sports and more.

Customers are able to view most channels using a mobile phone, tablet, computer, or even a normal TV (Due to rights agreements, some programmes can only be aired on certain devices).

For smart entrepreneurs, have you noticed that platforms like Kwese TV have actually launched four distinct services since it began business in Nigeria?

Here are a few examples of how our research can shape pay TV services:

# It has been discovered that people don’t want their sports and entertainment linked only to a TV set. They want to be able to view while on the move! In Africa more people have access to a smartphone (200m) than a TV set (60m TVs), so pay TV platforms spend a lot of time and money developing a “mobile-centric” strategy.

# Researchers have found out that most people don’t want to pay for hundreds of channels, many of which are of poor quality, and which they never watch. They prefer a “slim bouquet” of high quality content they want to see! This is actually a global trend.

Kwese TV says it has reduced the number of channels to about 60 for the time being.

“Our focus has been to try to get content which most competitors don’t have, on an exclusive basis. Where we have channels that others have, they have to be ‘must haves’, such as news channels,” the President and Group Chief Executive Officer, Econet Media, Joseph Hundah, says.

# Intending pay TV entrepreneurs who study the firm’s model have found out that people who buy a Set Top Box and satellite dish feel penalised by the fact that, if they run out of money, they have no access to any content. They addressed this problem in two unique ways:

1. The Set Top Box will always show Kwese Free Sports Channel, which has premium and exclusive content such as English Premier League and NBA basketball.
2. They will allow the customer also to access one local free-to-air national channel through the Set Top Box, even when they have no access to the pay channels.

#Findings from research conducted by Kwese TV shows that the payment method of a monthly subscription is too heavy for some people. They really want flexibility.

“I will be able to tell you more about our mobile pricing soon. Right now, I can reveal that for those who have a Set Top Box and dish, they have the option of three payment packages: three-day window, seven-day window and 30-day monthly subscription,” Hundah adds.

#Result from the research also shows that customers are often made to invest in a service without any knowledge about what content is on offer.

#Last but not least: Research confirms something everyone seems to know… that 60 per cent of Africans are under the age of 30, with the mean-age only 19 years of age! Africa is a continent of ‘millennials’. This means, for one thing: they want to see and interact with a product or service through the Internet and social media.

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