First Edition Of DISCOP AFRICA Set On Right Tracks

With a little more than four months left before the opening of its inaugural edition, close to 150 participants have already agreed to take part in DISCOP AFRICA, the first international event strictly dedicated to the development of television content business in Africa to be launched by the organisers of the DISCOP EAST and NATPE markets.
Fueled by double digit growth in television advertising investments, Africa is set to become one of the world’s most dynamic marketplace in the years to come for suppliers of finished programs, formats and packaged TV channels, from overseas as well as from the African continent.
DISCOP AFRICA 09 will take place at the SOFITEL TERRANGA HOTEL in Dakar, Senegal, from Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 February, 2009, and will bring together participants representing African broadcasters and Pay-TV platforms, overseas and African content suppliers, and blue chip advertisers ready to implement practical solutions that could further enhance the development of television content business in Africa.
The three-day event will consist of a one-day conference program, two days of pre-organised meetings between participants and several social networking functions.
The conference’s agenda will include round-table discussions, case studies and tutorial sessions centred on fundamental issues such as the development of sound export strategies for television content produced in Africa, innovative bartering syndication techniques, audience profiling and measurement methods and training programs for television executives.
Social networking functions will include thematic luncheon and cocktail parties promoting amongst other things an educational channel project to be launched at DISCOP AFRICA 09 and Nollywood (as the Nigerian video feature film industry is sometimes colloquially referred to) television content producers who will have a strong representation at the market.
Acquisitions and programming executives representing close to 120 African public and commercial broadcasters will be in attendance looking for children’s programming, documentaries, low-budget formats, educational content, Telenovelas, major TV Series, and blockbusters films. African television content will also be in high demand at the three-day market.
On the content suppliers’ side, 35 sales organisations from South and North America, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, China and South-East Asia, are planning to take part in DISCOP AFRICA 09, alongside 15 distributors from Nigeria, South-Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Fasso, Senegal, Congo and Ghana.
Of great importance to the development of Africa’s television industry, advertisers have responded positively to the organisation of an event that will give them priority access to high-quality and popular content proven to drive viewerships upward. While many advertisers and media-buying agencies expected to take part in DISCOP AFRICA are based out of Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi-based advertising executives will be in attendance.
After 15 years of operating independently, the DISCOP organisation has partnered since 2005 with the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE). NATPE is a global non-profit organization dedicated to the creation, development and distribution of televised programming in all forms, across all mature and emerging media platforms. Founded in 1991, DISCOP East is the only television content market strictly targeted at Central and Eastern Europe. DISCOP Africa, launching in February 2009, will be the first event of its kind in the African Continent centred around pre-organized meetings between buyers and sellers of television content.
(KMcA)