DISCOP AFRICA Increases Reach As Second Edition Concludes

DISCOP AFRICA 2, the second edition of DISCOP's new matchmaking and networking event targeting Sub-Saharan African free and pay television platforms, concluded last week in Nairobi on a positive note with optimism from attendees regarding the future of the television business in Africa.
A total of 332 participants attended the event, just six months after the inaugural DISCOP AFRICA which took place in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year.
Patrick Jucaud, DISCOP General Manager, said: "Holding two events so close to each other has definitely increased the reach of our DISCOP platform across the continent, with half of the African broadcasters and Pay-TV platforms attending in Nairobi new to the market."
Ninety broadcasters and Pay-TV platforms from 21 Sub-Saharan countries were in Nairobi for the three-day event, holding an impressive number of decisive meetings with the 79 international suppliers of film, finished programs, formats and packaged TV channels represented.
Jucaud added: "By the same token, close to half of the sellers who exhibited in Nairobi, had also attended Dakar and many indicated that they felt the additional business generated in Kenya justified their investment in a second DISCOP AFRICA."
Close to half of these sellers attending the event were from Africa (36 producers and distributors from the continent) underscoring the increasing regional interest in Africa content. To help fuel that trend and improve audiovisual content production and distribution skills in Africa, the Paris-based Media Consulting Group launched the Made In Africa training and informative year-round program during DISCOP AFRICA 2, bringing together 12 African producers and 15 international experts.
16 advertising agencies also took part in this second edition, seeking branding and product placement opportunities for major Pan-African television advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Toyota, Nokia, Orange, Zain , Safaricom and Unilever.
The decision to revert to one annual edition of DISCOP AFRICA will be taken after DISCOP AFRICA 3, which is scheduled to return to Dakar, Senegal from February 24 to 26 2010.
Since the beginning of 2009, DISCOP events have brought together a combined number of 2160 participants, a 33% increase from 2008, demonstrating the growing importance of world regions such as Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa for audiovisual content business.
After 15 years of operating independently, DISCOP events have now partnered with the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) since 2005. NATPE is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to the creation, development and distribution of televised programming in all forms, across all mature and emerging media platforms.
Further information is available at: www.natpe.org.
(KMcA/BMcC)