New data released from StarNews Mobile, Africa’s leading video streaming platform, indicate that content creators across Africa experienced a 300% surge in revenues during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), reaffirming the massive surge in consumption of hyper-localized content from the continent.
Based on metrics from StarNews Mobile’s platform, creators in Nigeria, Cameroon and Cote D’Ivoire saw 200%, 300% and 400% increases in viewers and revenue respectively between December 2023 and February 2024.
In total, the company streamed more than 4 million pieces of content per month to football fans via its AFCON-related channels, amassing 500,000 subscribers for content specifically related to the tournament.
Speaking about the data, Guy Kamgaing, Founder and CEO at StarNews Mobile, says “Whilst 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 one of the continent’s fastest-growing sectors – the content space. Based on the data, there’s undoubtedly a huge demand for quality, hyper-localized content from African creators but if we want to effectively unlock the full potential of this market opportunity, it’s vital we empower both sides of the marketplace.”
He continues, “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.”
Launched in 2017, StarNews Mobile empowers African content creators with the unique opportunity to monetize their work through a subscription model, boasting over 4 million subscribers and a thriving community of more than 120 content creators. With a strong presence across six countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte D’Ivoire, Congo, Benin and Ghana, the platform has also established key partnerships with major telecom operators such as MTN and Orange. To-date, StarNews Mobile has secured over $8mn in funding with its most recent raise – a $3mn pre-Series A funding round in October 2023 – led by Janngo Capital with participation from French football players Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé and Mike Maignan.
The global creator economy stands at an estimated worth of $20bn and with the world’s youngest population, there is an emerging class of African content creators ready to capitalise on the sector’s potential. But despite this, differences in international payment methods, cellular data limits and even certain cultural differences establish major barriers for African creators and influencers to monetize their content with traditional platforms.
However, through its partnerships with local mobile providers, StarNews Mobile is able to bill subscribers directly to their phone and leverages SMS technology to eliminate the roadblocks surrounding payments and data limits respectively. Creators can also charge their followers a small daily or weekly fee, limiting their reliance on ads and elevating the content of the quality provided as they focus on engaging and retaining their followers.
Leveraging its partnership with Orange – one of the main sponsors of AFCON 2023 – StarNews Mobile launched a series of initiatives to boost fan engagement with this year’s tournament including creating physical fanzones across its markets, data subscription bundles and virtual channels on its platform dedicated to the tournament.
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 CAF (Confederation of African Football), the organisers of AFCON 2023, securing a 100% increase in applications for media accreditations to cover the event alongside extensive global broadcasting deals, the tournament has broken into a new threshold of worldwide popularity.
