David Abraham, founder of Wonderhood Studios on the value chain of pay-TV has offered insights into the trends observed and how audiences across Africa are changing.
Abraham who spoke at the second day of the Digital Dialogue conference, a thought-leadership platform facilitated by MultiChoice, shared his varied experience running TV channels in the UK and the US between 2001 and 2017 - explaining how the environment for content and channel providers evolved from the early days of digital TV to the much more complex internet-based distribution environment we see today.
According to Abraham, the past used to be all about a battle between free TV and service providers’ intent on building pay-walls and maintaining exclusivity over key content in order to promote ‘big basic’ monthly subscriptions and minimise monthly churn of customers.
Then came broadband as an additional service to lock in customer loyalty, followed by mobile. “The old walls of traditional pay TV are now tumbling down and what’s coming next is infinitely more fragmented, and messy”, he remarked.
Telecoms providers compete with content platforms to build customer loyalty with original content and rights in a world where global digital competition is intensifying traditional competitive boundaries yet further. The question remains whether consumers will be able to navigate between so many different providers to find the best content in this more crowded forest of choice.
Abraham reviewed the key recent trends in UK, European and US pay TV and his talk offered a look into the future – looking at potential new models such as ‘quasi-linear’ and ‘post cable’ channels; the growth of emerging market platforms such as iflix and will consider what the long-term impact of blockchain technology could be on future models of pay TV consumption and distribution.
Abraham concluded his talk by stating that although the future is uncertain, there are many opportunities for content exploration amongst African audiences: “The African continent, with its younger populations and progressive use of mobile, can both build on and leapfrog Western markets in terms of future models of content creation and distribution”.
ENDS
Note to Editors:
- For more information, please visit www.multichoiceafrica.com and follow the social media conversation on the hashtag #DigitalDialogue2018 and tag Instagram: MultiChoice Africa; Twitter: MultiChoiceAF; Facebook: MultiChoice Africa.
Speaker Bio: David Abraham – Chief Executive of Wonderhood Studios
David has spent the past three decades working at the intersection of leadership, commerce and creativity in the UK and the United States. He is regularly cited as a prominent media executive in lists published by Variety, The Telegraph, Debretts, The Evening Standard and The Guardian. As Chief Executive of Channel 4 between 2010 and 2017 he led the organisation through a prolonged period of creative and brand renewal and public remit delivery - while also posting record revenues of £1bn in 2015 and 2016. During his tenure Channel 4 ended its reliance on Big Brother and delivered a diversified schedule including shows such as Gogglebox, The Last Leg and Educating Yorkshire. The Channel also successfully delivered the largest events in its history - the London and Rio Paralympic Games and began broadcasting Formula 1 and The Great British Bake Off while winning multiple BAFTAs and Channel of the Year Awards. David has many years of experience operating at the sharp end of editorial risk-taking in all genres of TV and film including investigative journalism, news, current affairs, comedy, drama and live events. Under his leadership Channel 4 also navigated through profound digital change by building an industry leading data strategy which today engages over 15m people across the UK via its All4 platform. Prior to Channel 4, David led UKTV where he launched its biggest Channel, Dave, (which is not in fact named after himself) and spent several years in the United States running TLC, a major cable network. David was also closely involved in the digital expansion of Discovery Channels in the UK and Europe in the early 2000’s. David has recently announced that he will be launching Wonderhood Studios in June 2018 in London.
About the Digital Dialogue Conference:
The 2018 Digital Dialogue Conference is a thought leadership platform facilitated by MultiChoice Africa in order to foster a better understanding of the future direction of the video entertainment industry in Africa. This is the 5th edition of the conference which was established in 2012 to create a better understanding of Digital Migration and its impact on Africa’s digital landscape. Since then, the independent and growing platform has been critical in fostering a better understanding and building knowledge on video entertainment and Digital terrestrial markets while creating necessary conversations with thought leaders about various industry-related issues.
