What’s Next for Africa’s Blooming Drama Business?

Drama series from Africa are in demand like never before, reports global industry magazine Television Business International.

The magazine reports the landscape has changed dramatically with the commissioning of local content by global streamers.

Nirvana Singh of the South African Broadcasting Corporation explains, “South Africa has 11 official languages. Traditionally broadcasters primarily produce content that talks directly to the language group. Up until recently local content was not appealing to the international market due to the language barrier. However, with the onset of Netflix Africa, VUI and other streaming services, the barrier has been overcome. Subtitling and dubbing makes the content accessible to a global audience.”

South Africa has had the advantage of having a strong production skillset and has been servicing Hollywood and Europe for decades. It comes as no surprise that the most compelling series with global appeal are coming out of South Africa, including Blood & Water, Dead Places and Queen Sono on Netflix.

But Africa is huge and diverse, as is its drama industry output, and the development is impacting all quarters of the continent, the article reports.

Here at VoiceQ, we have seen a surge of interest from Africa, and are now partnering with 37 studios, including five of the largest SVOD partners in South Africa and the largest East African broadcaster Azam Media.

VoiceQ is a good fit for a market where cultural industries are being developed simultaneously with economic growth and we are committed to helping the African television and broadcasting industry grow.

As Narendra Reddy of The Africa Channel explains in the TBI article, the future is in partnering and collaboration:

“We believe the stories of Africa will ultimately claim their rightful share of the world stage only through the creation of partnerships, both between producers and creators on the continent as well as with established companies and talent worldwide”.

We’re excited to be part of this movement.

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