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 "Invisibles" is the first original series produced in Africa by
Vivendi's <VIV.PA> pay-TV company Canal+ and is part of a drive
to attract viewers on the continent in the face of growing
Chinese competition and as subscribers at home cancel contracts.
Canal+ has lost 1.3 million individual subscribers in mainland
France since 2013 due to stiff competition for rights to sports
events, series from upstart rivals and the rise of streaming
services such as Netflix <NFLX.O> and Amazon <AMZN.O>.
At the same time, Canal+ has added twice as many subscribers in
Africa, now its second-largest market. Rights to European and
African soccer have long been a draw in Africa and Canal+ has
also invested heavily in locally produced content.
But unlike the tried and tested telenovelas and tales of
witchcraft that account for an outsized portion of African TV
consumption, "Invisibles" tells the story of a violent gang of
youngsters in 10 episodes of 52 minutes.
Shot mainly in a bustling sprawl of open-air markets and
run-down auto body shops in the working-class Yopougon district,
the series will debut in Africa on Oct. 29.
"Africans want us to address them directly and not offer them
programs that reference things they don't know, just because
that's what's shown in Paris," said Fabrice Faux, Canal+
International's chief content officer.
"The African public wants things made by them, for them and, if
possible, on site," he said.
'FASTEST GROWTH'
Vivendi said in February that Canal+ aimed to add 1.5 million
African subscribers by 2020 to bring the total to about 5
million, up from some 1 million five years ago.
With more Africans buying TVs - and streaming services not
widely accessible due to relatively high data costs - the
continent is fertile ground for satellite pay-TV companies to
provide original content and generate customer loyalty.
"It is a market that is very important for us. It is the market
with the fastest growth," said Faux.
Besides "Invisibles", at least two more African-produced series
are in the works, a Senegalese police drama called "Sakho &
Mangane" and an action series called "African Special Forces"
which Canal+ is co-producing with a Moroccan station.
Series are also cheaper to produce in Africa than Europe or the
United States, sometimes by a factor of 40. Karamoko Toure, the
"Invisibles" producer, said it cost about $1 million.
And it is already attracting plaudits. Last month, it became the
first francophone African series to win an award outside the
continent at the TV Fiction Festival http://www.festival-fictiontv.com/en/home-2
in the French city of La Rochelle.
Canal+'s success in Africa, where it has nearly 4 million
subscribers across more than 25 countries contrasts with its
struggles in France and largely stable business in its other
main markets, Poland and Vietnam.
Canal+ is Vivendi's second-highest grossing company behind
Universal Music so its welfare is key. In 2015, the hemorrhaging
of French subscribers from Canal+ became so alarming Vivendi
said it could not finance the company's losses in the long run.
PRESTIGE PLAY
Last year, it said a turnaround plan emphasizing themed packages
had staunched the bleeding: sales were growing again,
cancellations were declining and partnerships with mobile
operators such as Orange <ORAN.PA> and Bouygues Telecom <BOUY.PA>
were profitable.
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Even so, Canal+ has shed nearly 200,000 subscribers in France over
the past year. In May, it lost out on broadcast rights in France for
the national soccer league for 2020-24, which sent Vivendi's shares
tumbling 5.5 percent.
One advantage Canal+ has over new entrants is strong brand
recognition built up over three decades in francophone Africa, where
a white Canal+ dish is a status symbol.
"Here, prestige can be seen. Canal+ and its satellite dish are
prestigious," said Ndeye Diagne, a managing director at marketing
research firm Kantar TNS http://www.tnsglobal.com in Ivory Coast's
commercial capital Abidjan. "They must not lose that."
Originally-produced comedy and news programs, as well as A+, an
all-Africa channel Canal+ launched in 2014, have enjoyed success. It
also carries a range of African telenovelas, which are heavily
advertised on billboards around Abidjan.
The move to feature-length dramas such as "Invisibles" is something
of a leap into the unknown but French-Ivorian director Ogou thinks
it will resonate widely.
"People are looking for things to watch that concern them ...
Talking about stories in which people can recognize themselves."
CHINESE COMPETITION
Success in Africa has not come easy. To help attract more
subscribers, Canal+ slashed prices about five years ago, Faux said,
without providing exact figures.
According to company data, the average African subscriber brings in
less than half the revenue of a French customer - and Africa still
only accounts for 10.6 percent of Canal+ revenues.
Canal+ also faces growing competition from Chinese rival StarTimes,
which began operating in Africa in 2002 and is pushing deeper into
francophone markets.
With nearly 10 million subscribers across 30 African countries, it
is challenging the long-time dominance of Canal+ in French-speaking
countries and MultiChoice's <IPO-MGROUPJ.J> DStv https://www.dstv.com
in anglophone markets.
Philippe Zou, director general for StarTimes in francophone Africa,
said its strategy was focused on content in African languages such
as Swahili and Yoruba, televising domestic soccer leagues and
offering more programs online.
StarTimes entered Ivory Coast two years ago and has made inroads
with monthly plans from 4,500 CFA francs to 15,000 CFA
($8.02-$26.73), compared with Canal+'s 5,000 CFA to 40,000.
By the end of the year, London-based Digital TV Research Limited
estimates that Canal+ will have 579,000 subscribers in Ivory Coast
and StarTimes 125,000. Competition remains fierce and original
content may help win the fight.
At a Canal+ retailer in Abidjan's Cocody district, where TV boxes
were on sale for 15,000 CFA in a promotion, saleswoman Rachel Kouame
said business was brisk.
"There are some clients who have left for StarTimes but many of them
come back. They say they prefer our programing."
(Additional reporting by Media Coulibaly in Abidjan and Mathieu
Rosemain in Paris; editing by David Clarke)
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