What makes people laugh is widely watched. Local African comedy programmes of any quality nearly always shoot to the number one audience position. However, African broadcasters have been slow to take the local laughter medicine: one hit comedy show in East Africa is still buying its own airtime. The recent pitching session at DISCOPRO in Nairobi highlighted the talent available (also see video clips at the bottom of this article). These shows also lend themselves to high levels of online viewing. Russell Southwood and Sylvain Beletre have talked to several of Africa’s comedy programme makers about their prospects.

Conrad Nkutu, CEO, Fast Track Productions and maker of daily Ugandan comedy The Hostel was MD of Kenya’s NTV when he (in his own words) had his butt kicked by Citizen TV. It produced comedy programmes (in Swahili) like Inspekta Mwala and Papa Shirandula that took it from the number four audience position to the number one. Although Nkutu was not slow to react, commissioning programmes like Churchill Live as a response, it was a something of a “Road To Damascus” moment.

“Kenyan viewers moved away from Hollywood productions to local content. I commissioned 9 local programmes for NTV in 90 days because we had to have local programming in prime time. It helped me see that local programmes decide (even over news) in terms of station choice. I saw the opportunity to be a pioneer in Uganda with this kind of programming.”

In order to make his new daily comedy The Hostel, he gathered “the best professionals under one roof.” But once broadcasters heard the idea and saw the pilot they said it was great but they wouldn’t pay to commission it. So he decided to set up his own advertising team and seek sponsorship for the programme. Another issue was that broadcasters found it difficult to accommodate to the idea of a daily show:”But we knew we had to make an impact with the audience and make it addictive.”

Its first season attracted mobile company MTN as the main sponsor and also Housing Finance Bank, Pepsi and Mirinda and the show launched in February 2011 on NTV Uganda:”It is now the number one show according to Synovate research. Before it was a debate about which telenovela and there was very little separating them out. We started out with 20-22% audience share and this was higher than the 9 o’clock English news.”

Season 2 will offer viewers another 90 episodes and he has now got sponsorship for one season ahead and “we’re just wrapping up the contracts.” It has also been sold to NTV in Kenya and Wananchi’s Zuku has bought the Pay TV rights from May 2012.

It has decided to build a website to capitalise on the enormous interest in the series and to try and create another stream of income:”The audience don’t see this as an NTV production, they go straight to Fast Track Productions’ website. We have close to 5,000 friends and get 50,000 comments a week.

Côte d'Ivoire’s Bogolan Distribution announced that it is about to launch the season 2 of its popular comedy TV series “where are we here?” (“On est où là?” In French).
 This series made up of humorous short films (2 to 3 mins) and is a social satire that portrays characters. It shows the funny and unusual situations of life. Also, 100,000 people had viewed three episodes they had put up on You Tube and many from the Ugandan diaspora were saying “how can we get more of it?”.

So it has decided to launch a Netflix-style Pay TV site, which will first offer the wholse season for a single price and then expand to offer other African films and TV programmes for US$9.99 a month. The site will launch later in the year (probably next month) once the online payment system has got approval: it will be called: AfricanFilms.tv  It will share revenue 75/25 with producers, with the larger share going to Fast Track Productions.
 
Balancing Act’s Sylvain Béletre interviewed Bogolan Distribution’s executives - located in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire - Moussa Diomandé, the producer and Ana Ballo, the film-maker to find out where they were on this francophone (but soon to be Anglophone) comedy project.
 
Q: Why did you choose a short format?
 
A: Short format is becoming increasingly popular on the continent. It is suitable in the context of the diversification of media (Mobile Phone, Internet, VOD, DVD etc.) and the audience’s short attention spam. In three minutes, we can keep the attention of the new and busy generation that constantly zaps, even if the subject is complex or difficult to access. We want to be some of the pioneers in this niche whether in Ivory Coast or across Africa. This does not mean that we cannot reformat them to build a longer package such as a 13 or a 26 mins if TV stations request it. In the past, RTI (the public channel in Côte d’Ivoire) used to broadcast one of our episodes in prime time daily and provided a 13 mins compilation on Sunday for those who missed it during the week.
 
Q: How successful was season 1?
 
A: It was very popular in Cote d’Ivoire and found its audience outside of the country via for example RTS (Radio Télévision Sénégalaise) and TVM Plus (Mauritania). Most Ivoirians know the series because it was broadcast in prime time and featured 210 episodes.

We have gone digital and it has allowed us to also generate extra interest in and outside of the country. We posted episodes on Facebook, You Tube and Dailymotion. Our fans did the same. We got a total of 662 000 view as of 21 August 2011. On Facebook only, we got 400,000 views and 16,221 fans which is huge for what is originally a local West African TV series - to see click here:

Our YouTube channel generated more than 61,000 views so far (15 Sept 2011), click here:
 
Facebook stats show that “On est où là ?" is also very popular outside of Ivory Coast: in France, Senegal, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, etc. people have enjoyed the series. The series’ music was downloaded on people’s mobile phone and the expression “where are we here?” (On est où là? in French) is now employed locally when things go wild.
 
Q: What are you cooking up for Season 2?
 
A: We want to enlarge the series’ audience. We will produce in English and in French for this reason. Season 2 is intended for all age groups, in Africa and for the African Diaspora, as well as for Europeans, Asians, or Americans. Lots of people appreciate the African’s sense of humour and this is what we do best. We will also improve the series’ technical level. This second season will feature young and promising African talents as well as guest stars - Tiken Jah, Adrienne Koutouan, “Le Magnifique”, etc.- passing on new messages. We have partnered with Ginger Pictures , a South African production house and are in talks with Kagiso Lediga, a famous South African humorist. We plan to film the 2mn 30s x 120 episodes of season 2 in Cote d’Ivoire and in South Africa.
A pilot in English has also been posted on Youtube: click here:

Q: Where would season 2 get its revenues from?
 
A: Ideally there could be a single sponsor but we feel that there will be various streams. FTA and pay TV channels can get the series as part of a standard subscription. On VoD, we would get a percentage of the service providers’ revenues, the exact amount depending on the deals done. Currently, the few distributors, several public channels and paid TV stations in Africa still have a monopoly and can demand what they want but that’s changing with new competitors. We are also about to approach diaspora channels and Black American networks. Materials will also be sold to international broadcasters. They need local content to keep their local audience in Africa.

We’d get advertising from companies with a continent-wide presence like telecoms service providers, food and beverage, banks and airlines.

A new distribution means would be mobile TV. If it’s affordable, people will demand local content. There would also be sponsored episodes by international institutions and NGOs. For example the Gates Foundation might pay for a few episodes focused on HIV/AIDS prevention. We are also keen to promote peace, anti-corruption practices and good governance. Lastly, we will explore product placement if regulation allows it.
 
Q: Where have you got with the fundraising so far?
 
A: We are finalising the business plan and the rate card. We have discussed the concept with a small number of contacts so far. Some have said: “show us a pilot and we will get you the money”, others have signed up. We have secured two firm’s agreements and have produced pilots in English and in French. “So far so good” as they say.
 
Q: Have you approached any distributors in Africa?
 
A: We have talked to Bernard Azria, Director of Cote Ouest which is the main one in Cote d’Ivoire and across Africa. We will approach other distributors soon.
 
Q: What is the sponsorship fee for one episode?
 
A: It depends on the agreement. Ideally, we are looking for a sponsor or a distributor for 10 countries in English and in French, but we can also sell rights for one country. Rights for 10 countries cost 2 500 000 FCFA and it twill take 3 months minimum to deliver the 120 episodes of season 2.
 
Q: How is the media situation in Cote d’Ivoire right now?
 
A: Things have slightly changed and should change further. For example the new government has set up the “Haute Autorité de la Communication” (HAA) whom president is ex- Minister of Communication. There are talks about more media liberalisation. The Ministry of Culture plans to inject new budgets into audio-visual and Cinema culture. Life is still very hard for local film producers because if the public TV (RTI) or local cinema theatres do not take your feature film, you’re out of work. Like in most places on the continent, there are only three cinema theatres left in Cote d’Ivoire whereas there were twenty of them ten years ago. Another issue is the lack of solid audience stats. Nobody really knows who watches what and so it is impossible to get good advertising revenues. There won’t be media expansion in the country without this crucial audience tool…On est où là?! (“where are we here?”). We hope the new Ministers of Culture and Communication will understand the issue and help set up a regular media audience poll rapidly with media players. Other countries on the continent such as South Africa conduct and publish regular media audience stats.

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