Tag Archives: Disney

SVoD demand surges in Africa

African SVoD subs by platform in 2029 (000)

Sub-Saharan Africa will have 16 million paying SVoD subscribers by 2029, up nine million from the end of 2023, according to Digital TV Research.

South Africa and Nigeria will supply 59% (9.4 million) of the region’s total, the UK-based analysis firm said.

However, African SVoD penetration is still expected to be comparatively low by 2029, with only 7.1% of TV households paying for at least one subscription – although this is up from 4.7% at the end of last year.

Netflix will remain the most popular streamer, with 6.9 million subs by 2029, Digital TV Research said. It also predicted that local OTT service Showmax will be in second place with 3.7 million paying members.

Meanwhile, Disney+ will only have 905,000 subscriptions by 2029, as its roll-out on the continent is expected to be limited to South Africa.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “SVoD is a battle between Netflix and regional player Showmax. Rich in local content and sports rights, Showmax now has access to NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures and HBO content. Showmax’s parent MultiChoice recently rejected a takeover bid from Canal+.”

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Disney+ sets South Africa launch date

Disney+ original The Mandalorian

The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) has confirmed launch dates for Disney+ in 42 countries, including South Africa, Egypt, Greece, Poland, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The Mouse House will bring its streamer to South Africa on May 18, followed by a host of other countries in June, having confirmed launch plans earlier this year.

Disney+ will be made available in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen on June 8, with its monthly price ranging from US$8.99 to US$2.99.

On June 14 it will arrive in Albania, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Vatican City.

It will launch in Israel on June 16, having launched in territories such as Gibraltar, Faroe Islands, French Polynesia and St Helena on June 14.

It comes after TWDC last year delayed the launch of its streaming service in Eastern Europe from late 2021 to summer 2022.

Subscribers will have access to Star Wars’ The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian as well as Marvel Studios series Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac, plus recent blockbuster Shang-Chi & the Legend of The Ten Rings.

Disney+ features movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic, along with The Simpsons and general entertainment content brand Star.

Earlier this month the Mouse House unveiled plans to add an AVoD tier to Disney+ before the end of the year, marking the first time the company has deviated from an SVoD strategy for the streaming service.

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African toon Iwájú set for Disney+

Iwájú comes from Ziki Nelson

Iwájú, an animated sci-fi series series produced by African entertainment company Kugali Media and Walt Disney Animation Studios, is set to debut on global streamer Disney+ next year.

The series is Disney’s first collaboration with an external animation studio in the company’s 100-year history.

Iwájú – meaning ‘future’ in Yoruba – is set in a futuristic Lagos and explores class, innocence, inequality and challenging the status quo. Details of the storyline are scant but it revolves around a rich heiress and a poor boy, Tola and Kole respectively. Tola also owns a giant robotic lizard as a pet.

The six-episode series is created and directed by Ziki Nelson, executive produced by Jennifer Lee and produced by Tolu Olowofoyeko, co-founder of Kugali Media.

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African talent trio to voice Disney toon

L-R: Kehinde Bankole, Florence Kasumba and Nasty C

Nigerian actor Kehinde Bankole, Ugandan-born German actor Florence Kasumba and South African rapper Nasty C will lend their voices to Disney animated series Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire.

The 10-episode series is executive produced by Peter Ramsey and produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and South Africa-based Triggerfish Animation Studios.

Kizazi Moto is derived from the Swahili phrase ‘kizazi cha moto,’ which means ‘fire generation,’ capturing the passion, innovation and excitement of this new cohort of African filmmakers.

Bankole has starred in movies including Blood Sisters, the upcoming Sista, Dear Affy and Love Castle. Kasumba has starred in Marvel Studios films Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Endgame and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The series will premiere in late 2022.

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MultiChoice brings Disney+ to South Africa

Pay TV company MultiChoice has partnered with The Walt Disney Company Africa to bring streaming service Disney+ to the company’s DStv digital satellite platform in South Africa.

Christine Service

Disney+ is set to launch in South Africa on May 18 and will be available to DStv subscribers via the Explora Ultra decoder. They will have access to a collection of exclusive originals, including feature-length films, documentaries, live-action, animated series and shortform content.

Christine Service, senior VP and general manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa, said: “This is yet another proud milestone in our partnership with the MultiChoice Group. We are delighted to be collaborating to bring South African DStv subscribers access to Disney+’s incredible catalogue of films, series and exclusive content.”

Calvo Mawela, group CEO of MultiChoice, added: “In line with our business objective of adding value and enhancing our ecosystem, we are focused on making sure that all our customers can enjoy their favourite shows and movies anywhere, anytime, on our world-class platforms.

Calvo Mawela

“The digital world has brought with it fundamental shifts and our customers are looking for convenient access to a portfolio of entertainment options. MultiChoice’s partnership with Disney+ leads with an expanded choice of content, ease and convenience of subscription and payment, with the DStv Explora Ultra as an enabler.”

Disney+ launched in the US in November 2019 and has since expanded around the world and amassed more than 130 million subscribers. It will be available in more than 50 countries by the end of 2022 and in over 160 by the end of 2023.

As well as the South African launch next month, Disney+ will also debut in the Middle East and North Africa on June 8 and in Israel on June 16.

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Disney, SABC ink content distribution deal

The Walt Disney Company Africa and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) have signed a distribution deal allowing the latter to broadcast ESPN content to viewers across South Africa.

Gary Rathbone

Through the SABC Sports channel, viewers will have access to a wide range of Disney-owned ESPN’s local and international live sporting events, news programming and sports films.

They will also be able to watch football matches from the English Championship, the Dutch Eredivisie and the U20 Championships from Nairobi, plus highlights from the US Major League Soccer, premiere football news round-ups from ESPN’s magazine shows, and the popular ESPN FC.

In addition, viewers can see live broadcasts of 2022 events including the World Race Walking Championships from Belarus, the second season of the Basketball Africa League and live boxing events.

SABC sport general manager Gary Rathbone said: “This agreement is going to add significant depth to our current offering on the SABC Sports channel. Our channel will now offer unrivalled content to our local sport fans seven days a week, thanks to ESPN’s great boxing archive and film and documentary library. With the addition of long-awaited regular live boxing events, as well more live football, athletics and African basketball, it’s clear this partnership will deliver right across the board for our viewers.

“This partnership will not only give our viewers access to great sports content but will see the SABC sport channel and our teams benefiting from the resources and experience that this collaboration with ESPN offers.”

Kyle De Klerk, director of sports at The Walt Disney Company Africa, added: “With this content agreement, we are excited to not only be bringing ESPN’s unprecedented and compelling sporting offering to new audiences, but to also be taking a great step in highlighting and celebrating some of the up and coming leagues and athletes from around this continent.”

Christine Service, senior VP and general manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa, said: “We are delighted to be extending our relationship with SABC to include ESPN, bringing another diversified and exciting brand from Disney’s portfolio to local free-to-air audiences.”

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Disney, France TV take African toon Kiya

Disney and France Télévisions have picked up a new South African preschool series from transatlantic studio Entertainment One (eOne) about a superhero who saves the day with martial arts and dance.

Olivier Dumont

Kiya (52×11’) will debut on Disney Jr and Disney+ globally and on France Télévisions in 2023.

Kiya is based on an original concept from South African-based production company Triggerfish and was developed for television by Frog Box and eOne. The production features a diverse creative team, including writers, designers and composers from across Africa as well as France, the US and UK.

Speaking at the Kidscreen virtual event on Thursday, eOne’s president of family brands Olivier Dumont revealed the commission along with reboots of the My Little Pony and Transformers franchises for global streamer Netflix.

Dumont said the prodco is seeking more original IP but stressed that pitches must have strong commercial, global and consumer products potential.

“We’re definitely still looking for original IP in the same way that we were in the past. In terms of what we’re looking for, it’s as it was before the acquisition by Hasbro; we’re looking for projects with very strong commercial potential which complement our existing slate. What’s critical in terms of commercial potential is projects need to have global potential, but also need to go deep in terms of ways that we can exploit the IP overall, and therefore need to have strong consumer products potential,” he said.

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Yvonne Orji developing Disney+ show

Nigerian actor Yvonne Orji is working on an autobiographical comedy series for Disney+ with British-born Nigerian-American actor David Oyelowo and Oscar-winning TV personality Oprah Winfrey.

Yvonne Orji

Half-hour show First Gen is in development at Disney+ and is based on Orji’s experiences growing up as a Nigerian immigrant in the US. It follows a child caught between trying to honour her parents and culture and attempting to assimilate into American life.

The show is written by Orji and executive produced with Winfrey’s prodco Harpo Productions and Carla Gardini and Oyelowo via his Yoruba Saxon Productions. 20th Television is the studio.

Orji took to Instagram to express her excitement about the deal, saying: “Thank you David Oyelowo for believing in the dream from JUMP and Lady Oprah for coming on board as our fairy godmother. I’ve been very vocal about my desire to highlight stories from the continent and I’m grateful to have this opportunity to do so.”

Orji is best known for her role as Molly in hit HBO series Insecure, which is set to end after its fifth season. She was nominated for an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy for the show in 2020. Orji is repped by UTA, Odenkirk Provissiero and Del Shaw Moonves.

Oyelowo is currently in production on an as-yet-untitled murder mystery thriller with Searchlight Pictures, in which he stars alongside Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell. Winfrey, meanwhile, is an iconic talkshow host, media mogul via her joint-venture channel OWN with Discovery, and a prolific producer via Harpo.

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African toon Iwájú to debut on Disney+

Iwájú comes from Tolu Olowofoyeku, Hami Ibrahim and Fikayo Adeola

African animated series Iwájú is set to debut on streaming platform Disney+ in 2022.

The series was developed by Nigerian comic artists Tolu Olowofoyeku, Hami Ibrahim and Fikayo Adeola and is a collaboration between pan-African comic book company Kugali Media and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

According to its producers, Iwájú, which means ‘the future’ in the Yoruba language, tells stories about the African continent and its history, embracing the present and also imagining its future

Set in Lagos, the sci-fi series will explore themes of class, innocence and challenging norms.

Director Ziki Nelson said: “It will combine Disney’s magic and animation expertise with Kugali’s fire and storytelling authenticity. Iwájú represents a personal childhood dream of mine to tell my story and that of my people.”

Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee added: “We found Kugali comics from a BBC article highlighting the talented comic book artists. Their dream is to bring African stories created by African artists to the world, highlighting the diversity of cultures, histories and voices across the continent.

“Their talents as storytellers blew us away. I’m proud to announce the first-of-its-kind collaboration to bring original longform series to Disney+.”

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FilmOne inks Disney distribution deal

Nigerian production and distribution company FilmOne Entertainment has signed a content distribution deal with American entertainment conglomerate Disney.

Moses Babatope

The agreement reaffirms Disney’s commitment to the West African cinema market and covers titles from all Disney studio divisions, including Pixar, Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, Blue Sky Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.

It also makes FilmOne Entertainment the sole distributor of Disney-owned films in Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia, giving it titles including Mulan, The New Mutants, The King’s Man, Death on the Nile, Black Widow, Soul, Free Guy, The Last Duel and Eternals.

Moses Babatope, co-founder of FilmOne, said: “It is a major career highlight that we’re able to get the world’s biggest movie studio as a partner. What the deal means is that we are exclusive marketers and distributors of Disney titles in the English-speaking West African countries that have studio-licensed cinemas. We will distribute the films to all those cinemas in the territory.

Christine Camerer, senior VP and country manager for Africa at Disney, added: “With their in-depth knowledge of the region and expertise in bringing theatrical releases to fans, we are thrilled to welcome FilmOne as our distribution partner for this territory.”

Babatope said the partnership could lead to future collaborations involving largely African content.

“It’s true that a lot of the content we will be distributing is from other parts of the world, but if we are able to demonstrate that we are accountable and transparent, there will be room to attract future investments involving content from this region.”

In 2019, FilmOne Entertainment signed a deal with Chinese media giant Huahua to co-produce the first major Chinese-Nigerian film, 30 days in China. The firm has also distributed and produced Nigerian box-office hits such as The Wedding Party and New Money.

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Beyoncé’s Black is King rolls out

Beyoncé’s ‘visual album’ Black is King

New ‘visual album’ Black is King from US singer Beyoncé is set to roll out from July 31 on pay TV platforms across Africa.

They include MultiChoice’s DStv service, Canal+ Afrique, the new Disney+ video streaming service and also M-Net, flagship channel of MultiChoice. This is made possible due to the distribution deal Disney signed with MultiChoice’s M-Net and Canal+ Afrique.

The film was produced in a year and is based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift, the studio album Beyoncé released alongside Disney’s 2019 CGI remake of The Lion King.

It reimagines the lessons from the new version of The Lion King for children and features an impressive list of diverse voices on its creative team, including directors Emmanuel Adjei, Blitz Bazawule, Pierre Debusschere, Jenn Nkiru, Ibra Ake, Dikayl Rimmasch and Jake Nava, as well as co-director and long-time collaborator of Beyoncé Kwasi Fordjour.

Other cast members include international African models like Aweng Ade-Chuol and Adut Akech, supermodel Naomi Campbell, Tina Knowles-Lawson, actress Lupita Nyong’o, singer Kelly Rowland, Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z, among others.

Additional co-directors and second unit directors add to the crew’s global representation, including Dafe Oboro, Julian Klincewicz, Derek Milton, Meji Alabi, Joshua Kissi, Alexandre Moors and Deon Van Zyl.

According to Beyoncé, the Black is King film was a labour of love and was researched, filmed and edited in the past year.

“It was originally filmed as a companion piece to The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack and meant to celebrate the breadth and beauty of Black ancestry,” she said.

“The events of 2020 have made the film’s vision and message even more relevant, as people across the world embark on a historic journey. I believe that when Black people tell our own stories, we can shift the axis of the world and tell our real history of generational wealth and richness of soul that are not told in our history books.

“With this visual album, I wanted to present elements of Black history and African tradition, with a modern twist and a universal message, and what it truly means to find your self-identity and build a legacy. My only goal is that you watch it with your family and that it gives you pride.”

Filmed in various locations, the film’s cinematography captures beautiful people and landscapes across continents, starting in New York, then Los Angeles, South Africa, West Africa, London and Belgium. It will be viewed by audiences in Africa including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Cameroon, Liberia, Burundi, Senegal, Togo, Somalia, Benin, Congo, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Gabon, Cape Verde and other countries.

Although an official trailer for the film has been released by Disney, the screening dates and times on the African pay platforms have yet to be announced.

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Fox Africa chief gets new role

Fox Africa boss Evert van der Veer has been handed a new role in the wake of The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

Evert van der Veer

In his new position, Van der Veer will take charge of the combined Fox and Disney channels in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

He now reports to Christine Service, senior VP and country manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa and head of the media networks division.

Van der Veer will be responsible for bringing together Fox and Disney’s channels in the regions under one umbrella.

The exec was named Fox Networks Group Africa’s general manager in May 2018, assuming oversight of the group’s pay TV channels across Africa, including Fox, Fox Life, Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic, Baby TV and Fox Sports, as well as non-linear services such as National Geographic+ and Fox+.

“Fox Networks Group Africa is very much still in operation and the Fox Networks Group Africa business is now part of the wider Walt Disney Company Africa business,” said Disney Africa.

The company has yet to disclose van der Veer’s job title.

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MultiChoice drops Disney’s Andi

The new season of Disney live-action series Andi Mack introduces a gay character

Pay TV platform MultiChoice Africa has axed a Disney children’s show ahead of the planned introduction of a gay character, reports Gabriella Opara.

Following an announcement from Disney that its live-action series Andi Mack will introduce a gay character in its newly premiered season, MultiChoice Africa, which operates the DStv and GOtv platforms, said it will no longer air the show.

With broadcasters – in this case, Disney Channel – often providing only one satellite feed into Africa, a ban of a show in one country means it is taken off-air across the entire continent, even in countries where the content is not censored.

The move comes after Kenyan media regulators banned the series and follows the prohibition in Nigeria of reality shows I Am Cait and I Am Jazz on the E! channel of DStv Africa for including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) characters.

With anything that is seen to promote LGBTI a breach of Nigeria’s national broadcasting code, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said it is ensuring that any programme on air clearly complies with its code of ethics.

Disney has promised African fans of Andi Mack that it will find alternative ways of broadcasting the show while still respecting each market’s cultural sensibilities and adhering to its rules and regulations.

The US media giant said in a statement: “While our shows are developed for global audiences we are committed to respecting each market’s cultural sensibilities, compliance rules and regulations.

“Disney Channel in South Africa serves multiple countries across Africa and the Middle East, each with its own regulations to which we adhere. Accordingly, Andi Mack will not be broadcast through DStv.”

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