French giant Canal+ acquires Rwanda's first on-demand streaming service
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Loading... - Gateye Muthama
- 08 Aug 2022
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France’s Canal+ Group has announced the acquisition of Rwanda’s first digital streaming platform, ZACU TV, as it entrenches its position in East Africa. After recent ventures into film production in West Africa, this latest move is further evidence that the French media giant recognises the latent potential of independent African film production as a draw for the continent’s growing on-demand viewership.
The decision to branch out into local content creation follows a path already trodden by Canal+ subsidiaries in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.
Following the successful acquisition of Nigeria’s ROK Studios, which has since distinguished itself in a saturated Nollywood market, this latest venture is forecast to drive public engagement with Rwanda’s fast-growing audiovisual sector by improving production quality and building upon the success of previous domestically produced sitcoms.
Expanding across Africa
Canal+ already has an established footprint in Africa. Boasting 23.7m subscribers worldwide, the media conglomerate already caters to audiences across both Francophone and Anglophone West Africa. Its content has been available via Rwandan terrestrial TV for a decade and gained a dedicated channel, Canal+Rwanda, in 2020.
Founded in 2017, ZACU has fast risen to become one of East Africa’s leading providers of online streaming. Subscribers can access 700 hours of video content on demand and, for S$30 per year, can stream shows in high definition, free of adverts, or even offline.
“I’m very excited to continue the journey with Canal+ Group”, says ZACU CEO Wilson Misago. “Rwanda has enormous talent… it’s time to take made-in-Rwanda content to the world!” Read More…
