The Media Online’s weekly round up of moves in media. Facebook Watch goes global. Jacaranda FM welcomes new digital lead, Renaldo Schwarp. Nigeria is now Africa’s largest pay TV subscriber market in Africa. Discovery to launch Real Time in South Africa. Publicis Communications embraces the Power of Now for Old Mutual Brand Reposition. Marketers take a lead on Leaderex. Heavy Chef presents Masechaba Ndlovu in CT.
This week’s BIG move: Facebook Watch goes global
Facebook Watch went global this week, giving people around the world a new way to discover great videos and interact with friends, creators and other fans.
It was launched in the US a year ago to give people a place on Facebook to find shows and video creators they love and to start conversations with friends, other fans, and even creators themselves. “Over the past year, we’ve made the experience more social — like making it easier to see which videos your friends have liked or shared, creating shows that have audience participation at their core, and opening Watch to videos from Pages,” said Facebook head of video, Fidji Simo (left).
These updates have helped people discover and engage more deeply with videos they love — from Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith, to beauty mogul Huda Kattan’s behind-the-scenes show Huda Boss, to live Major League Baseball games. “Every month, more than 50 million people in the US come to watch videos for at least a minute in Watch — and total time spent watching videos in Watch has increased by 14x since the start of 2018,” said Simo.
Facebook Watch allows users to find videos through a personalised Watch fee. It’s a way to catch up with creators and publishers you love via a ‘Watchlist’. It’s a home to save videos, and it allows users to participate in video experiences.
“Over time you’ll be able to find new video experiences in your Watch feed, like Watch Parties, premieres, and videos focused on audience participation — like the new trivia game show, Confetti,” said Simo.
Simo added that taking Watch global also meant new opportunities for creators and publishers around the world. “We’re expanding our Ad Breaks programme so more partners can make money from their videos, and we’re offering new insights, tools and best practices for Pages in Creator Studio.”
People moves
Jacaranda FM welcomes new digital lead, Renaldo Schwarp
As of September 2018, Renaldo Schwarp starts his latest corporate role as digital lead at Jacaranda FM having enjoyed a successful career spent as a digital strategist and cross-channel content director for lifestyle brands within the Media24 stable.
Having recently moved from Cape Town to Gauteng, Schwarp is currently host of Jacaranda FM’s High School Hits Weekends (Sa. 12:00-16:00 & Su. 10:00-14:00), and can also be seen on local TV screens, as field presenter on KykNET & Kie’s actuality programme, KLOP! (DStv-channel 145).
“Jacaranda FM is such an exciting and vibrant brand to work for, it’s a station that has fully embraced digital into its strategy,” Schwarp said. With experience in both broadcast and digital media, the new role is a challenge he is up for. “The most exciting part is that I get to build on the great foundation that the digital team laid over the last few years, so I’m excited to take Jaca-digital to a whole new level,” he said.
Business moves
TomTom Telematics appoints Tribeca PR
TomTom Telematics, a business unit of TomTom dedicated to fleet management, has appointed Tribeca Public Relations (Tribeca) as its strategic public relations partner tasked with creating awareness about the company’s vehicle tracking and WEBFLEET fleet management products and solutions.
“Tribeca’s business-led approach to PR and the team’s experience with the B2B and B2C market will be a great addition to our marketing efforts in South Africa,” said Dani Wilson from TomTom Telematics. “We look forward to the new direction for the brand and the assistance from Tribeca in driving this.”
Samantha Robinson, account director at Tribeca, added: “The TomTom brand is familiar with the Tribeca team and we’re excited to work closely with the Telematics business in creating local awareness about the company’s products and solutions.”
Nigeria is now Africa’s largest pay TV subscriber market in Africa
Nigeria has become the largest pay TV market in Africa in terms of subscribers and continues to have a strong growth potential, according to the latest country profile report from Kagan, S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“Although ARPUs are much lower than in South Africa, leading to lower revenues- Nigeria may increasingly be an investment focus for operators due its size (22% of all African TV Households are in Nigeria), low TV household penetration and rapidly growing middle class segment that has disposable income for entertainment services,” said Julija Jurkevic, senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Some findings include:
– Strong growth of affordable pay-DTT services allowed Nigeria to overtake South Africa as the continent’s largest pay TV market in 2015, penetration and revenues remain behind.
– At the end of 2017, Nigeria accounted for 29% of Africa’s multichannel subscribers and 22% of TV households.
– At end-2017, Kagan estimates Nigeria’s multichannel market had over 27 million TV households and almost 7 million pay TV subscribers, equating to a 9% year-over-year increase. Household penetration, however, remains low reaching nearly 26% in 2017 (compared to over 50% in South Africa), while multichannel revenues equaled $835 million, translating into a monthly ARPU of $10.45.
Discovery to launch Real Time in South Africa
Discovery, Inc has announced the expansion of its African portfolio with the launch of Real Time, the brand-new, free-to-air general entertainment channel for female audiences.
Bringing the best of Discovery’s lifestyle and factual storytelling to a whole new fan base, Real Time will launch in South Africa on Monday 3 September on DStv channel 155, tailored specifically for customers on DStv’s EasyView package*.
“We are excited to present Real Time to the market, and further expand and diversify our local portfolio offering,” said Amanda Turnbull, VP and GM for Discovery in Africa and the Middle East. “With an already successful suite of pay TV brands, Real Time affords us the chance to bring our world-class content to even more audiences across South Africa, in the form of a channel designed to provide much-needed ‘me time’ to the modern African woman and her wider family.”
Making moves
Publicis Communications embraces the Power of Now for Old Mutual Brand Reposition
Publicis Communications has brought to life the new Old Mutual brand repositioning, themed The Time is Now with an integrated campaign, which launched this week across 11 African markets.
The new campaign, which comprises a powerful TVC, a print campaign and digital is part of a broader repositioning project aimed at re-invigorating the Old Mutual brand, while building relevance within its markets across Africa.
“We were tasked with presenting the repositioned Old Mutual brand as a dynamic, vibrant, action-orientated African brand demonstrating the fact that they understand the world of their customers and that they have relevant solutions to help them get to where they want to be,” says Jonathan Beggs, executive creative director for the campaign.
Vuyo Lee, chief marketing officer of Old Mutual says, “The new brand repositioning is much more than a brand refresh, it’s about realising the potential of our customers and markets we serve.”
Marketers take a lead on Leaderex
The Marketing Association of South Africa ( MASA) will be taking part in this year’s Leaderex at the Sandton Convention Centre on 4 September 2018. MASA will host two sessions (essentially two masterclasses, see diary below for informaton), aimed at a senior level audience. The Masterclasses are designed to challenge conventional thinking about marketing in a digital world.
“Digital platforms offer marketers exciting new ways to extend their marketing programs” says Greg Garden, CEO of MASA, adding that “Too many companies are creating digital silos rather than engineering their entire business for digital success that speaks to their business architecture and strategy. Integrating the new platforms into their mainstream marketing efforts is essential.”
Diary
MASA masterclasses at Leaderex
MASA MASTERCLASS #6: Smarter thinking for Marketing in a Digital World (09:30 – 12:00)
- Dave Carruthers, past international marketing director, SAB Miller and Distell: Recalibrating brand strategy for the digital age
- Mosidi Seretlo, digital marketing’ myths and what to do about them
- Wayne Nelson, digital advisor, Microsoft. The real trends you need to understand and why
- Panel discussion: Presenters, Subject matter experts, and audience.
MASA MASTERCLASS #7: Smarter execution for Marketing in a Digital World. (13:30 – 16:00)
- Sarina Viljoen, CEO Customer Centric Digital Partners: Engineering for Digital
- Strategising and executing a road map; Articulating customer value; Hidden pitfalls; Inside-out and outside-in: are we there yet.
- David Perrott, founding partner Gravity Ideas: Doing the key things better: How marketers can improve their digital execution and performance.
- Panel discussion: Presenters, Subject matter experts, and audience.
To book, click here.
Where: Sandton Convention Centre
When: 4 September 2018
Heavy Chef presents Masechaba Ndlovu in CT
Heavy Chef’s next speaker is one that requires the emphasis. A truly spectacular local talent, Masechaba Ndlovu is going to be joining Heavy Chef on stage.
It appears that the Heavy Chef crew are veritable superfans of their our next guest, who is one of our country’s most incendiary and important new voices. Masechaba Ndlovu is a radio show host, journalist, actress, television producer and presenter. She is the owner and CEO of Masechaba Media and recently joined Mo Flava on The Drive afternoon show, on Metro FM, to form one of the most celebrated partnerships on radio.
For the first time on a Heavy Chef stage, Masechaba is going to share her secret ingredients to building a personal brand in today’s tumultuous and noisy business environment. “Masechaba is more than just a celebrity. She’s a celebrity leader!”
Masechaba’s talk is going to raise eyebrows and raise your intellect.
Where: Bandwidth Barn, Khayelitsha
When: 8 September 2018
To book, click here.
It’s now or never: fast track your design career before 31 August!
This September could be the start of a life-changing career in graphic design for 20 lucky creative applicants. Friends of Design’s Fast Track Graphic Design Bursary applications are now open, for 1 week only!
In collaboration with Friends of Design Business Solutions and the MICT SETA, Friends of Design -Academy of Digital Arts has 20 sponsored places available in a 3-month program to fast track your graphic design career.
Not only will the course tuition be paid in full, successful applicants will also receive a stipend of R11 400 in total to cover their living expenses during their studies. It’s an incredible opportunity to focus 100% of your energy on kickstarting your career in graphic design without having to worry about paying the bills.
The course itself is a comprehensive introduction to Graphic Design essentials, including practical training in the Adobe Desktop Publishing Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign). Students will learn to create compelling visual communications like logos, brochures, flyers, posters and packaging, all under the supportive guidance of our Friends of Design industry expert lecturers.
You will earn the qualification international accredited Adobe Certified Associate through an exam written at the end of the 3 months. There will be an opportunity for a re-write after 4 months.
