Netflix moves into Africa
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2019
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The video streaming service Netflix has announced a major push into Africa, with original series commissioned from around the continent.
Netflix had already commissioned its first Nigerian original movie with 2018’s Lionheart, and a number of new projects have been announced, including the Zimbabwean musical animation Tunga. Ed Butler speaks to screenwriter Godwin Jabangwe about how he based it on the legends he heard as a child. Meanwhile Mahmoud Ali Balogun, a veteran Nollywood filmmaker, explains why he thinks Netflix will be good for the country's content creators.
It won’t necessarily be smooth sailing for Netflix, however, as high data costs and poor connectivity mean many African viewers won’t get the same experience as those in more developed regions. Ed speaks to South African media analyst Arthur Goldstuck, and Hassana, a young Netflix user in north-western Nigeria.
(Picture: the Netflix logo; Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello there, I'm Ed Butler and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Today, why and how the world's biggest streaming service is betting big on Africa. |
| 0:11.6 | The world has always wanted to see these stories. My hope is that Netflix will allow the story to be as authentic as possible, which means as African as possible. |
| 0:24.6 | But is Africa ready for Netflix movies streaming on such a big scale? |
| 0:29.7 | And can Africans afford it? |
| 0:31.4 | A single movie can cost like, let's say, a dollar plus. |
| 0:35.0 | Considering the fact that I have to subscribe for data, then download. |
| 0:39.0 | It's expensive. |
| 0:40.3 | That's all to come in Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:45.4 | It has been an exciting time for African movie fans over recent months, especially if you're |
| 0:50.8 | lucky enough to be able to access a certain online streaming service. |
| 0:55.0 | The biggest legacy I will leave for posterity is you, my daughter. |
| 1:04.0 | It must be a proud friend. |
| 1:05.3 | You've always been able to do anything to put your mind. |
| 1:11.3 | A trailer there for Lionheart, the first ever Netflix original movie commissioned out of Nigeria. |
| 1:18.4 | It was released in January this year, and it's not just movies that Netflix are investing in either. |
| 1:23.3 | There's new TV series in the pipeline. |
| 1:25.5 | Here's the South African TV star Pearl Toosie speaking |
| 1:28.6 | in December to her social media fans. I'm here to let everybody know that I'll be starring in Africa's |
| 1:35.9 | very first Netflix original. I can't believe I'm saying this. I cannot wait for every young woman, every woman on this continent and actually on this planet to meet Queen Sono. We've worked so hard on this and I cannot wait. |
| 1:53.4 | Yes, no question. Having launched original content initiatives in Latin America and Asia, Netflix is now looking to win hearts, minds, and audiences on the |
| 2:02.7 | African continent. Explaining its artistic strategy and a call to investors in April, Netflix |
| 2:08.5 | cheap content officer Ted Sarandos said it was all about seeing Africa with African eyes. |
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