MTN Ghana has launched MTN One TV, a new digital entertainment platform aimed at giving Ghanaian filmmakers and content creators wider access to audiences while opening new opportunities to monetise their productions.
The platform will host a mix of local, African and international content, including linear channels, video-on-demand programmes, series and drama productions.
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Chief Digital Officer of MTN Ghana, Ibrahim Misto, said the platform formed part of the company’s transformation from a traditional telecommunications provider into a broader digital platform business.
MTN evolved from just years back connecting people and then providing just voice and data, today to becoming a platform business where we help customers, enterprises, governments, providing connectivity, providing financial services and then also digital services and platform business towards enhancing the digital economy,” he said.
Misto said MTN One TV was being positioned as a home for local productions and would provide filmmakers and creators with access to MTN’s large customer base and wider African audiences.
We’re inviting the industry, filmmakers, creators to put their local content and their production into the platform,” he said.
He added that MTN intended to work with industry players to develop solutions that would help content creators expand their reach and generate revenue.
We are here today to launch that and then invite all the industry players to come and then share their challenges with us and co-create together solutions by monetizing platforms that MTN is providing today,” Misto said.
Free access initially
Misto explained that MTN One TV would initially offer free access to basic content, with the platform generating revenue through advertising.
Today it’s free to watch, so you can watch the free channels, you can watch the FAST channels, but you will be having advertising,” he said.
He said advertising revenue would subsequently be shared between MTN and participating content creators.
The company also plans to introduce subscription-based access to premium content as the platform develops.
Later on, we’ll be introducing subscription for premium kind of content,” he said.
Customers would require data to access the platform, while the service would provide both free and premium content options.
Platform to support creators
Senior Manager for Digital Services and Verticals at MTN Ghana, Dr Bless Sefenu Agordzo, said the platform was created with the creative industry in mind and was intended to strengthen the relationship between content producers and audiences.
He said Ghana had a rich storytelling tradition that had evolved from traditional forms of storytelling to radio, television and now digital platforms.
There were firesides before the cameras. There were storytellers, and long before television, Africa was already telling a story through music, folklore and the voices of generations before us,” he said.
According to Dr Agordzo, MTN One TV would provide greater visibility and distribution opportunities while creating new avenues for content creators to earn from their work.
MTN One TV is designed to connect quality content with audiences in new and more flexible ways and to create greater opportunities for the people who make that content,” he said.
He stressed that audience numbers alone would not be enough to build a sustainable creative industry.
We also know that a strong creative industry needs more than audiences. It needs sustainable revenue, investment in quality production and talent to grow,” Dr Agordzo said.
MTN seeks industry collaboration
Dr. Agordzo said MTN wanted to develop the platform in partnership with producers, filmmakers and other creative industry players.
That is why we want to build MTN One TV with you and not simply for you,” he said.
He explained that the launch event was designed as an industry conversation to enable MTN to understand the concerns and expectations of content creators.
Today is as much about listening as it is about presenting. We want to hear you, your ideas, your concerns and your hopes for the future of Ghanaian content,” he said.
Misto similarly said MTN would provide support and investment to help scale productions.
“We’ll be working, we’ll be co-creating, let’s say, a lot of content with them and surely that comes with support as well,” he said.
At the end, you need investment for such kind of industry to thrive and then once investment comes, the revenue will be coming, which we as well share with players as well.”
Personalised content
MTN One TV will also provide users with personalised viewing options based on their preferences and viewing history.
Misto said customers would be able to create different profiles, including profiles for children and adults, while the platform would recommend content based on individual tastes.
The beauty of such platform is that it will be able to personalize for you certain content based on your taste, based on your watch history and others,” he said.
He said the platform would combine Ghanaian, African and international productions and make content discovery easier for customers.
It’s a combination of local content and then regional African content as well as international content,” he said.
The platform is expected to allow users to access content “anytime, anywhere, at any device”.
Misto said the ultimate objective was to bring together MTN, creators, filmmakers, regulators and other industry players to develop a stronger digital creative ecosystem.
If you come in, we help you scale up, Ghana wins, we win too and then it’s a win-win and you will be able to have better reach by using that platform,” he said.
