Kana TV, the new name for Ethiopian entertainment

Elias Schulze, managing director & co-founder, describes to Prensario: ‘We are really focused on serving Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the diaspora. Our operating partner and lead investor, Moby Group operates successful television channels in other geographies so we are in good company. Moby Group continues to look for exceptional opportunities across the globe’.

Regarding to the programming, he explains: ‘We looked at over 200 titles to land at the 7 localized shows from 6 countries that we selected. We tested these with various focus groups and believe they will all garner significant viewership. We are very excited to hear how our viewers will appreciate the series!’.

Kana TV launched with 4 to 5 hours of fresh content daily and 8-10 different shows. Most of its initial series are top international hits from around the world – primarily dramas–dubbed and mixed into Amharic by its own professional voice acting team. ‘Our entertainment will be in Amharic, original or dubbed. We wholly believe in Ethiopian culture, values and tradition; our productions will reflect this belief’, ensures Schulze.

According to the executive, nearly half of urban daily television viewers tune into foreign content to watch (not in local languages) on a daily basis. ‘This means that there is significant scope to return those viewers back to content that is designed for and benefits Ethiopia’s populace and economy – we hope to be a positive catalyst in this way’, he adds.

In the digital area, Kana TV seeks to promote a ‘proactive and vibrant cross-platform’ strategy including significant effort with Facebook, the leading social media platform in Ethiopia. Even prior to launch, the company achieved over 125,000 followers and high engagement in a market with ~3% or less internet penetration.

And in terms of revenue model, he ensures that in the short and medium term, the revenue model is focused on advertising and sponsorships, with the focus in bringing a very strongly customer oriented approach to the advertising offerings to ensure that their clients maximize value from advertising.

‘We are determined to use real data and real facts about TV viewership patterns and ratings in order to give confidence to advertising spenders and grow the entire market. Prior to launching, we spent considerable resources to have Ipsos – one of the world’s leading research firms –study the market’. According to Ipsos, TV penetration reaches 53% of households nationwide, 28.8m Ethiopians over 15 years old, and 1 out of 3 households have satellite reaching 18.5m viewers in Ethiopia.

‘We hope to tell stories that inspire but also build serve with “entertainment for development” in possible socially oriented offerings such as informative high-quality documentaries or health focused programming that aligns with and also supports the government’s progressive development agenda’, completes Elias Schulze.