A newly-released data from StarNews Mobile, a video streaming platform, has revealed that content creators across Africa experienced a 300% surge in revenues during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
This, according to the data, reaffirms the massive surge in consumption of hyper-localized content from the continent.
Metrics from StarNews Mobile’s platform showed that creators in Nigeria, Cameroon and Cote D’Ivoire saw 200percent, 300% and 400% increase in viewership and revenue respectively between December 2023 and February 2024.
The company, in total, streamed more than 4million pieces of content per month to football fans via its AFCON related channels, amassing 500,000 subscribers for content specifically related to the tournament.
Commenting on the data, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at the StarNews Mobile, Guy Kamgaing, noted that while one of the main conversations of this year’s AFCON has been the commercial growth of African sport, these statistics reinforce the revolution in another area of the continent’s fastest-growing sectors – the content creation space.
According to him, based on the data, there’s undoubtedly a huge demand for quality, hyper-localized content from African creators.
“To effectively unlock the full potential of this market opportunity, it’s vital we empower both sides of the marketplace. With this in mind, it’s simply not enough to just provide a platform for African creators to express themselves, we need to invest in their success by equipping them with the financial stability, independence and freedom to create so they can fully leverage the massive value the continent and its diaspora’s 1.2bn consumers hold.”
According to sports analytics platform, Opta, the 2023 AFCON has been one of the most exciting in the tournament’s history with this year’s group stage alone recording an average goals-per-game rate of 2.47, making this AFCON’s highest-scoring tournament in 15 years.
With Confederation of African Football, the organisers of AFCON 2023, securing a 100% increase in applications for media accreditation to cover the event alongside extensive global broadcasting deals, the tournament has broken into a new threshold of worldwide popularity.
Launched in 2017, StarNews Mobile gives opportunities for all content creators in Africa and elsewhere to reach large local audiences and create a sustainable new income source from their work and talent. Its network provides a springboard and a spotlight for new and emerging content creators from Africa and around the world.
StarNews Mobile is currently available in the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo, Benin, Ghana and Nigeria and has formed partnerships with large pan-African mobile operators MTN, Orange, and Moov.
