CANAL+, iROKO in deal to launch first SVOD app for Francophone Africa

CANAL+ GROUP and iROKO are partnering to create and launch the first Francophone SVOD service aimed at bringing affordable, popular mobile TV content to French-speaking Africa. Announced today as part of a multi-million euro deal, this mobile-first Android App with download functionality is set to launch in the coming months.

Designed to optimize data consumption, the service will be aimed at building a new mobile-only subscriber base across Francophone Africa. Canal + group now owns and broadcasts the largest catalogue of African content, including Nollywood films and TV series, African homemade series and shows and South-American TV Novelas, for French-speaking Africa.

CANAL+ GROUP and iROKO have previously worked together through content distribution deals for linear TV channels such as Nollywood TV , and are now consolidating their partnership to launch this standalone Android app.

With over 250 million French-speakers across 23 countries in Africa, and as mobile Internet penetration continues to spread across the continent, the iROKO Android app will cater for a significant growth market, with 165 million smartphones estimated to be in circulation before 2020.  Understanding the need for localization, as language is the first step in bringing content closer to viewers, the app will be translated fully into French and all content will be in French.

Jacques du Puy , President of Canal+ Overseas stated, “Now that Canal+ is close to having two million pay TV households in Africa, our ambition is to widen our audience to those whose mobile is the main entertainment device. iROKO’s original approach integrating popular content production and mobile SVOD perfectly matches our group’s entertainment vision in French- Speaking Africa. This will also allow us to make more accessible the contents that we specifically produce and design for the African market’

Jason Njoku CEO of iROKO added, “iROKO has been committed to leading viewers to content they will love and CANAL+ OVERSEAS shares our vision, translated into French. CANAL+ has over 20 years’ experience of delivering content to Francophone Africa, we have an unrivalled Nollywood content catalogue and have pioneered VOD in Africa. Together, we will be giving the many millions of French-speaking Nollywood and Telenovela fans unprecedented access to content that has previously been inaccessible. We believe truly amazing, yet affordable content is the right balance to strike in Sub Saharan Africa and this deal is testament to that.”