23 November, 2021. Doha/Lagos. Al Jazeera English documentaries and series, dubbed into the Hausa language, will soon be available to AREWA24’s 40+ million viewers in Northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon through a new Distribution Agreement recently concluded between Al Jazeera and AREWA24.
This distribution agreement will make Al Jazeera’s English language programs available via AREWA24’s Free-to-Air Satellite channel and via the region’s major PayTV services: DStv, StarTimes, CANAL+ and TSTV and on AREWA24’s global streaming service, “AREWA24 On Demand.”
“We are very pleased with this agreement as it makes Al Jazeera English’s content available to new audiences in a large part of Africa in their own language,” said Acting Executive Director of Global Brand and Communication Division, Ramzan Alnoimi. “We are looking forward to expanding the distribution of Al Jazeera content dubbed in other languages in the future.”
AREWA24 CEO, Jacob Arback, said: “the Al Jazeera brand and its outstanding programming will be very well received by AREWA24’s Northern Nigerian and West African audiences.”
“We couldn’t be more excited about this new partnership, Arback added, and about being the first television network to broadcast Al Jazeera’s high-quality programs in Hausa, a language spoken by over 90M people in Nigeria and West Africa.”
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. The AREWA24 television channel reaches more than 40 million Hausa speakers in Nigeria and West Africa and the Kano and Lagos-based company is now among the leading Pan-African television, production, content-distribution and media companies.
Nigeria is one of Al Jazeera’s key markets in Africa. This agreement, unprecedentedly, allows Al Jazeera-produced content to be dubbed into Hausa and be available to a much wider and diverse audience in the region.
ABOUT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Al Jazeera English Channel provides international news and current affairs that places people at the heart of the story, rooted in the belief that everyone has a story worth hearing. Through its fearless journalism and award-winning programming, it tells authentic stories about people everywhere, without geographical or cultural prejudice. Since launching in 2006, Al Jazeera English has garnered international praise for its impartial and fact-based reporting, winning prestigious awards from journalism’s most respected institutions. With headquarters in the Middle East and correspondents in 69 bureaus around the world, it offers a fresh perspective on global news. From developed to developing markets, it adds local context through an on-the-ground presence in as many places as possible. Today, Al Jazeera English reaches more than 350 million households in over 150 countries (as of February 2020), delivering bold reporting that informs, empowers and challenges perceptions.
For more information, please click here https://www.aljazeera.com/
ABOUT AREWA24: 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.
For more information on AREWA24: https://arewa24.com/company-overview/ and to contact us: info@arewa24.com
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Arewa24’s new streaming service targets 8 million plus Hausa-speaking diaspora – just US$4.99 a month
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 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 -
CANAL+ INTERNATIONAL sun sanya tashar AREWA24 a jerin tashohinsu.
CANAL+ INTERNATIONAL ya cimma yarjejeniyarta da tashar nishadantarwa da tsarin rayuwa a Najeriya, wato AREWA24.
Tashar wadda aka bude a shekarar 2014 don haskakawa tare da fito da al’adun Hausawa, AREWA24 na isa ga masu kallo da ke magana da harshen Hausa sama da milyan 80 a yammacin Afirka.
Tashar AREWA24 na gabatar da shirye-shirye masu nishadantarwa da tsarin rayuwa da dama, iri daban-daban, Kama daga shirye-shiryen Gari Ya Waye da na Mata da Matasa da shiryeshiryen Hip Hop, da Fina-finan Kannywood da shirin “Kundin Kannywood” da Girke-Girke da kuma Shirn al’adu da shirye-shirye na musamman.Haka kuma shirye-shiryen talabijin na tashar AREWA24 sun hada da shirye-shiryen kiwon lafiya, da shirin yara da kada-kaden gargajiya da kuma wasannin kwaikwayo daban-daban na kasashen Indiya da Turkiyya masu dogon zango, wadanda duk aka fassarasu cikin harshen Hausa. Tashar nishadantarwa a Najeriya, AREWA24 na nan a kan na’urar tauraron dan adam ta Canal+ kan tasha mai lamba 285, wadda zata fara daga yau. Don haka ne, wannan sanarwa ke kaddamar da bude sabon rukunin tashohin talabijin a kasar Nijar.
Kamfanin CANAL+INTERNATIONAL yana kokarin ganin ya kara matsowa kusa da abokan huldarsa na Najeriya, domin fitar da hanyar biya musu bukatunsu. “Muna farin ciki da muka samun damar fadada shirye-shirye masu inganci da muke samarwa. Tashar AREWA24 tasha ce da ta ke samar da shirye shirye masu inganci tun daga shekarar 2014.
A halin yanzu CANAL+INTERNATIONAL ta iso kasar Nijar kuma muna fata mu bawa masu basira a kasar damar kaiwa ga dukkanin kasashen dake magana da harshen Faransanci a nahiyar Afirka. Manufarmu ita ce tallata nasarorin da Najeriya ta samu da kuma kulla wata alaka tsakanin bangarori daban-daban na nahiyar Afirka.” A cewar Cheikh Sarr, Babban Jami’in Canal + ta kasar Niger. “Mun yi farin cikin samun hadin guiwa da CANAL + INTERNATIONAL wajen nuna shirye-shirye masu inganci da harshen Hausa ga abokan huldarsu. Muna da tabbacin cewa shirye-sjiryenmu za su zaburar tare da nishadantar da sabbin masu kallonmu a kan CANAL + a kasar Nijar kamar yadda suke yi a tsawon shekaru biyar da suka wuce a Najeriya.” A cewar Celestine Umeibe, Shugaban sashen tallace-tallace na tashar AREWA24.
Game da AREWA24 : Za a iya sauke shirye-shiryen tashar AREWA24 a kowanne mako a kan youtube.com/AREWA24channel. Ku kasance da masu kallon tashar AREWA24 da ke k kafafen sada zumunta a kan: AREWA24.com, da https://facebook.com/AREWA24, da Instagram.com/AREWA24channel, da kuma twitter.com/AREWA24channel.
