Northern Nigerian Hausa-language channel Arewa24 is launching Arewa24On Demand, a new global subscription video-on-demand and OTT streaming service. Russell Southwood spoke to Arewa24 CEO Jacob Arback about why it launched the service and what is planned.
The idea for launching a VoD and OTT streaming service has been in Arewa24’s strategic roadmap for a long-time: Our goal was to unite Hausa speakers on a TV platform in the north, then expand to the rest of Nigeria, then out to the Hausa diaspora. We were waiting to get a critical mass of library content with the quality standards needed to compete internationally.”
Arback describes the new service as “Netflix for Hausa content”, which means that it has all the genres of that global service, including drama, music, sports and so on. There will be no advertising and users will get unlimited access for US$4.99 a month and US$48 a year.
Launched at the end of October, it will be available from Arewa24’s website and there are iOS and Android apps available. Google Play shows that there have already been 500,000+ downloads of the app. It will also be available on Roku and Amazon Prime and over time through several other platforms.
“The strategy is to upload the content free on YouTube with a transition message saying that users will need to move over to the new channels by 21st November. We want to start with early adopter fans in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the USA and Europe.” He sees the service as a way of avoiding having an expensive satellite service to reach these diaspora fans.
Arewa24 is working closely with independent producers in the north that Arback says has “wonderful writers and storytellers. All they need is capital, says Arback, to grow like Nollywood in the south of the country:”We are working with a couple of producers, producing special features where they talk about their films.”
Its content strategy is very much focused around original scripted drama produced by the channel. Titles include thriller 90 Days and popular long-running drama Dadin Kowa, the channel’s first sitcom produced through an independent production house:”We will script another original drama next year. Hausa speakers love dramas. They very hyper-local but with high production values.”
In addition, there will be all the other content on the channel including: its hip-hop programmes, its breakfast and cooking shows, its kids content and sports (including round-ups of the EPL and big leagues from London, dubbed into Hausa). There will also be a shorts section including animation, comedy, skits and short films:”We have one show where the social media team go out and ask people stupid questions.”
How much will the new service be affected by connectivity challenges?:”The service is first and foremost targeting Hausa speakers outside Nigeria who want culturally appropriate entertainment. We’re a very specific niche channel for a particular diaspora community: a rough estimate indicates there are 8-10 million of them with the largest communities in Saudi Arabia and Sudan. It will be available in Northern Nigeria and will have a feature that adjusts to the speed of the connection available.”
How many subscribers does he think it will have in 2-3 years time?:”I couldn’t tell you. We have 50 million YouTube viewers but we’re taking a big leap investing in this. We need to deliver fresh content every day, every week. We want to produce 11-12 shows every day and it makes sense to have another distribution channel to let others see it.”
What level of investment has gone into it?:”For our channel, it’s a big investment but in a global context, it’s probably quite reasonable.” It wanted to get in before someone got in ahead of them:”It all starts with content. We probably have 45,000 hours. Only half will go on the app as the later work was of higher quality.”
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AREWA24 celebrates its sixth anniversary with a slate of new shows
AREWA24, the leading Hausa language entertainment and lifestyle television channel and production studio in Nigeria and West Africa, announces a major slate of new and exciting shows to coincide with the company’s sixth anniversary.
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AREWA24 Broadcasts DW’s “77 Percent” In Hausa Language
“The 77 Percent” – a TV magazine show by DW targeted at the youth segment – has been adapted for broadcast in Hausa Language by Nigeria’s TV Channel AREWA24. According to the press briefing from the programme sponsors, AREWA24 will broadcast the show in Hausa during its primetime line-up.
“The 77 Percent” as a show acquired its name from the percentage of Sub-Saharan Africans younger than 35 years old, and it is designed to showcase their life experiences with “personal stories about key issues they face”. The programme, a 30 minutes show, has only been shown in English and Portuguese.
Jacob Arback, the CEO of AREWA24, commenting on the acquisition of the show, said: “Adding The 77 Percent to our primetime line-up is a tremendous opportunity for AREWA24 to showcase real issues, challenges and success stories from youth in all parts of the continent. We’re proud and excited to partner with DW and to take this top-quality production to our Hausa speaking youth and their families.”
DW Director Programs for Africa, Claus Stacher, commenting on the show reaching its 50th edition this month, said: “Our format is perceived by the young target group as cool, constructive and authentically African. The pan-African, conversational and solution-oriented approach gives extra value for our digital, radio and TV partners in the region.” We are confident that this partnership with the like of AREWA24 will open more doors to further collaborations.”
Source: DW.COM -
AREWA24 Announces The Launch Of Its New Original Drama And Film Division
AREWA24, the leading Hausa language family entertainment and lifestyle television channel and production studio in Nigeria and West Africa, announces the launch of its new Original Drama and Film Division. The new company production division will develop, script and produce a slate of new original drama series and feature films, telling authentic African stories from Northern Nigeria and West Africa in both the Hausa language and in core English.
AREWA24’s production studios already produce and broadcast the two most popular and highest rated Hausa language drama series in Northern Nigeria and West Africa, “Dadin Kowa” which is in it’s 25th season, and the channel’s runaway hit political thriller, “Kwana Casa’in” (“90 Days”), which just concluded production on Season-7. Several new original drama series are currently in development and the company will be debuting its first originally-produced premier feature film in Q4 2022.
“AREWA24” has been developing some of the finest Nigerian writers, producers, directors, editors and actors since the channel launched eight years ago,” says Jacob Arback, AREWA24’s CEO. “We are now positioned to be a major Pan African producer of scripted, authentic African content – – for Nigeria, for Africa and for viewers in the West who are becoming more and more exposed to the unique and compelling stories being told in high-quality dramas and films from the Continent.”
Leading the new Original Drama and Film Division is Evans Ejioju, an experienced and talented industry veteran who has been the executive producer of Kwana Casa’in since its first season. Salisu Balabare, the current director of Kwana Casa’in and longtime director of the Dadin Kowa drama series, will head up creative direction for the new division. Bob Reid, a well-known Emmy-award winning executive producer with Discovery Networks and the former EVP and Programming Executive at The Africa Channel in the U.S., is on board as a production consultant and executive producer of AREWA24’s original drama and film productions.
With the creation of this new Original Drama and Film Division, AREWA24 will leverage its own production resources and expertise, as well as look to partner with top creative talent from throughout the world, and with the major global streaming services, to develop and produce an expanding slate of scripted narrative content.
“Our goal is not just to create ever more popular and successful dramas for our core Hausa-speaking audiences,” says Arback. “Some of what we produce might not air first on AREWA24. Going forward, we plan to create a slate of content that appeals to viewers throughout Africa and the rest of the world. The new production division will enable us to tailor content to suit those broader targeted audiences. To do that, we plan to produce authentic African content in English as well as in Hausa and take on more provocative subject matter across a wide range of program genres.”
ABOUT AREWA24 (https://arewa24.com/company-overview/): AREWA24 and its production arm, AREWA24 Productions, was launched in 2014 to fill a glaring void of authentic, locally-produced and high-quality Hausa language entertainment and lifestyle programming that reflects pride in Northern Nigerian life, culture, music, film, art, cooking and sports. Today, AREWA24 reaches 40+ million Hausa speakers in Nigeria and West Africa through its Eutelsat satellite free-to-air broadcast, on the StarTimes payTV bouquet (channel#138) the two Multichoice payTV platforms, DStv (channel #261) and GOtv (channel #101), the payTV platform TSTV (#361) and on the Canal+ payTV service (channel #285) in Niger, Chad and Cameroun. AREWA24 benefits from active audience engagement across its digital platforms at AREWA24.com, facebook.com/AREWA24, and Instagram.com/AREWA24channel. AREWA24 also operates a global streaming service, AREWA24 On Demand in partnership with Vimeo.
To subscribe to the global streaming service, AREWA24 ON DEMAND, go to http://tv.arewa24.com or download the app from the IOS App Store, Google Play, Apple TV, Roku Channel Store and Amazon Fire TV.
For additional information please contact: info@arewa24.com
