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.”

28 June 2021 – AREWA24, the leading Hausa language entertainment and lifestyle television channel and production studio in Nigeria and West Africa, celebrates its 7^th anniversary by giving its viewers the largest slate of new Hausa-language programming in the channel’s history.  AREWA24’s new slate of programming debuts in July, with new original dramas, a new women’s talk show, new kids’ “edutainment” series, fresh football shows alongside AREWA24’s other popular hit dramas and studio shows.  Many of these new shows will also be immediately available on AREWA24 On Demand, the channel’s global subscription-video-on-demand service connecting Hausa speaking families around the world to Northern Nigerian entertainment, culture and lifestyle.  New seasons of AREWA24’s original runaway hit drama series, Kwana Casa’in and Dadin Kowa, are currently in production and will premier in October.

AREWA24’s new slate of programs leads with three new Hausa dramas:  Buka Afrikana, an ensemble situation-comedy set in a local Nigerian Middle Belt diner, or “Buka.” Labarna-Season-3, the newest season of one of the most popular Northern Nigerian hit drama series and Sirrin Boye, a new Hausa mystery and crime drama.  Also launching in July is AREWA24’s new ground-breaking women’s talk show, “Mata A Yau” (Today’s Woman”), featuring four dynamic co-hosts from different backgrounds and ages, openly discussing important issues women are currently facing today in Northern Nigeria.

AREWA24’s CEO, Jacob Arback, reflecting on the company’s growth over the past seven years, gives all the credit to the company’s management and staff and to the tremendous talent in the Northern Nigerian television, media and creative arts sectors.  “Many people don’t realize that there are over 80M Hausa speakers in Northern Nigeria and the Sahel, and the region is bursting everywhere with young talent.  Arback adds, “what I am most proud of, however, is how our management and staff, comprised of such diverse Nigerian backgrounds, ethnicities, tribes, religions and geographics, can all gather as a team in Kano, Nigeria, to produce some of the best programming coming out of Africa today.”

AREWA24 is also expanding its kids’ entertainment and education programming in July, dubbing into Hausa for the first time ever the multi-award winning “Sesame Street Friends,” with all of your favorite Sesame Street characters, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry.  Also debuting in Hausa on AREWA24 is Super Sema, the first African kids’ superhero animated series about an ordinary young girl on an extraordinary mission to protect her African village from a heartless villain and his army of pesky robots.  The Oscar-winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o, is a voice actress on the Super Sema series and is also a partner in the Nairobi-based Super Sema production company, Kukua.  Keeping our avid Nigerian football fans happy, AREWA24 is rounding out its July new program launches with two new football series: “Homage, and “Perfection.”

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.

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

CANAL+INTERNATIONAL enriches its offer with the Nigerian entertainment and lifestyle channel, AREWA24. Launched in 2014 to give visibility and highlight the Hausa culture, AREWA24 addresses over 80 million Hausa speakers in West Africa.

AREWA24 offers a wide variety of entertainment and lifestyle programming genres and formats, from Breakfast Show/talk formats to youth and women’s programming to Hip Hop,
Kannywood films and Kannywood “behind-the-scenes” entertainment to cooking, culture and documentaries. AREWA24’s television lineup also includes medical and health programs, children’s shows, traditional music genres and a variety of Indian and Turkish television series, all character-dubbed into Hausa.

The Nigerian entertainment channel AREWA24 is available on the Canal+ bouquet on channel 285 starting today.
Thus, this announcement formalizes the opening in Niger of the new subsidiary of the audiovisual group. CANAL+INTERNATIONAL is investing to get closer to its Nigerien subscribers and to design an offer adapted to their needs.
“We are excited to be able to expand our offering of original content. AREWA24 is a channel that has been providing high quality programming since 2014. CANAL+INTERNATIONAL is
now present in Niger and we hope to give local talent the opportunity to reach all French speaking Africa. Our mission is to promote Nigerian successes and to create bridges
between the different regions of the African continent.” says Cheikh Sarr, Chief Executive Officer of Canal + Niger.
“We are very excited to partner with CANAL + INTERNATIONAL in delivering high quality Hausa language programming to its subscribers. We are confident that our programs will
inspire and entertain our new CANAL + viewers in Niger as they have been doing for the past five years in Nigeria.” Says Celestine Umeibe, AREWA24’s Head of Commercial Operations

About AREWA24 : AREWA24 original productions are also downloadable every week on youtube.com/AREWA24channel. Join the AREWA24 digital community on social media:AREWA24.com, facebook.com/AREWA24, Instagram.com/AREWA24channel, and twitter.com/AREWA24channel.