March 2020, I find myself standing outside my work building staring at my phone watching the Zack Snyder: Justice League, final trailer for the 10th time. I get disturbed by a voice “can you hear the noise?” I looked up, it's my regular customer Alex. I answered “No! Sir, I cannot”. He gets out of his car, puts his face mask on and replies ''ah, youth, lack of experience is the modern youth's downfall. Chaos my young friend, chaos is coming, and you need to be prepared”. This time my phone heads to the back of my jeans pocket, my eyes are glued to his, arms folded. I replied, “prepared for what exactly, Alex?” “During chaos, there lie opportunities. During war, when there's huge smoke, run to the hills, look from above where you can benefit and plan your attack”. He replied.
Alex was talking about life after the pandemic. Our conversation lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes. The message I got from the conversation with Alex the wise is to learn to anticipate an opportunity. If you look over the pond you will see smoke. Well, not literally, American film industry is at war, a deadly one. They're fighting for numbers, so their streaming platform can help the African continent benefit from the war.
My name is Drey. Welcome to Coffee and Netflix, there's no denying the world is changing. You hardly see children playing in parks. Wait, hold up, are they still parks? COVID-19 pandemic sped up the process, the world stopped, no sport, no cinema, TikTok lit up like fire in a wild forest, Hollywood lost trillions of dollars in a year, video on demand became the centre of the world.
November 2019 Disney+ goes live, halfway through the COVID-19 pandemic year (2020) It launches in Latin America and Europe respectively. April 2020 ANBCUniversal launches their very own video on demand platform, Peacock. As of the publishing of the blog, it is only available in America. In May 2020, HBO MAX, a division of Warner Media, released in America. June 2021, launched in Latin America. Later in the year it will be available in Europe. Paramount joins the war in March 2021 with Paramount plus, like Peacock, it is only available in America. They are all competing with the likes of Apple TV, Amazon Prime and the main giant Netflix.
We have established the rise of the Internet on the continent, the streaming service which is operating on the continent. In my first blog post I discuss the growth of the African film industry. Click here to read more. In it, I explore the elevation of our industry. With so many streaming services in the market, the only way they can survive is by expanding and offering more content.
The year is 2025. Disney+, HBO MAX and Peacock are established on the continent. I can finally watch Zack Snyder's Justice League 2, the day of release (Lord hear your son's prayer) on HBO MAX. Would the content each platform offers be good for us?
Disney dug into their repertoire and got us another princess along with a song that's number one in the HOT 100, One problem is the princess is based on a character from Alaska, a young girl from Djibouti who is watching the latest release from her mother's lap, moral of my little story the young girl from the country of Djibouti might enjoy the latest Disney princess blockbuster, but can she relate? Solution; Disney exec’s with their 100 years of experience know they have to release content for the specific market, so they will need to hire African writers to create African stories.
That was only Disney. It only takes one to make the first move, the rest will follow. The formula will be beneficial for content creators on the continent, the film economy will be boosted and, out of it, the African studios will be amongst the best in the world.
In 2022, Netflix Africa will release their first African reality show on the platform Young, Famous & African. The show will focus on a group of famed, affluent young media stars in Johannesburg as they build careers, look for love and rekindle old flames. If the show is successful, it will send shock waves across streaming services. If not, Netflix won't give up. They will try again. Here lies Netflix's strength, the will to be ahead of the streaming curve, realising their 20 million plus African subscribers need content they can relate with, and establishing infrastructure on the continent is key to their success.
Amazon Prime, arguably the second-biggest streaming service globally, also available in Africa since 2016, has not released trending, exciting African content as yet. Showmax with the help of Multichoice has been releasing amazing African content, such as “Temptation Island South Africa, Uthando Lodumo, Skemerdans, Crime and Justice” to name a few. Showmax has been available in Africa since 2015, but this guy has not been a subscriber yet.
In 2016, my younger self rushed to class late as usual. It's a mid-year marketing exam, I get to the hall, sit down, take my books out, am exhausted, I sigh, then look across the desk, my good friend Simone calmly looking at me while laughing, “you had one of those nights haven't you?” I replied, “yes, six hours of study”. “You should stop doing that to yourself. It is not healthy”, Simone answered back, He leant towards me then whispered “you should stop working hard. Learn to work smart”. Those four words “learn to work smart” have been echoing in my ears ever since, and that's the Netflix formula: they work smart, not hard, they understand what the customer needs, and they are always ahead of the competition.
