The news never slows down. But once a year, we do.

It is that time of year when we look back, take stock of what we’ve achieved, and figure out what’s next. Today’s Digest celebrates an important milestone for us and includes something special: our favourite essays of the year. Let’s get to it.

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50,000 strong and still growing

This week, Communiqué is celebrating a significant milestone: we now have over 50,000 subscribers across all our publishing channels.

Over the past five years, Communiqué has evolved from humble beginnings as a side project into a full-fledged media and intelligence company, focused on mapping the contours of the broader creative economy on the continent.

The vision is lofty, but this milestone is a testament to its importance. Reaching 50,000 subscribers isn’t just about growth. It’s proof of a hunger for context, for grounded, consistent storytelling about how Africa’s media and creative industries work. But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what some of our readers have said:

“Such important work! This kind of expertise is sorely lacking on our continent, especially as our media—whether hard news, lifestyle, or business—is facing major challenges.” — Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Managing Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, Spotify.

“Scaling the creative economy across Africa is both necessary and inspiring. What you’re building—connecting operators, investors, and policymakers—shows the ecosystem what’s possible when vision meets execution.” — Reza Abbas, Startups and SMEs Consultant.

“Always telling us the stories that matter. Thank you, Communiqué.” – Anita Okafor, IP Lawyer.

To everyone who’s shared our stories, forwarded them, commented, reposted, or convinced a friend to subscribe, thank you! You’re the reason we’ve come this far. Here’s to the next 50,000, and to telling even more stories that move the industry forward.

Our favourite Communiqué stories of 2025

Speaking of milestones, another thing we’re proud of this year is our consistency. For the first time since launching, we published our flagship essays every single week from January through December. They came in different forms and flavours, but each carried the Communiqué’s signature: precise, insightful analysis, commentary, and documentation of how Africa’s media and creative industries are evolving.

As we close out 2025, we’re revisiting a few that best capture what we’ve been chasing all year: stories that told the truth about the African creative economy—its messiness, ambition, and constant reinvention.

1. Communiqué 52

This was the essay that opened the year and, looking back now, seems prescient, given how CANAL+ dominated the news cycle throughout the year. The essay posited that the French broadcaster wasn’t just expanding, it was betting its future on Africa. It unpacked the scale of that gamble and why, collectively, its moves had made CANAL+ the most consequential media player in Africa today.

“Canal+ staking a huge part of its future growth plans on Africa might just be asking too much from the continent. Individually, the bets could be considered precarious. But collectively, these bets have made the French company Africa’s most consequential media player.”

2. Communiqué 69

Another recurring plot this year was Nollywood’s search for solutions to fix its distribution and financing issues. The partial exit of global streamers revealed a significant gap that needs to be filled. This essay chronicles one of the solutions emerging from an unlikely source to address financing: venture capital.

Long before international streamers came and left, MBO Capital was already backing Nigerian films, pouring billions of naira into an industry starved of structured capital. The essay captured their playbook.

“Despite the reduced activity of international streamers in the Nigerian market, MBO Capital invested 2.3 billion naira last year and plans to double that number this year.”

3. Offscript with Oluwamayowa Idowu

We launched a new vertical this year to spotlight the people behind the moves, and oh boy, did we meet some fascinating ones. From founders and editors to creators shaping entire industries, we told stories of interesting people doing interesting things across the continent.

Our pick of the bunch is Oluwamayowa Idowu’s story of how he built one of Nigeria’s top digital publications from scratch. His journey is both inspiring and instructive.

‘That impulse to create something bigger than himself led to the creation of Culture Custodian. He launched it in his final year of university, funding it with money his godmother had given him for his 21st birthday. “Instead of using it to have a good time, I used it to build the website,” he says. “I wanted it to be proper-proper, not just a blogspot.”’

4. Communiqué 79

Sports coverage in Africa tends to focus on athletes and matches. In this essay, we turned the spotlight on the power behind the scenes and showed how Sporty Group was quietly reshaping Africa’s sports industry from the infrastructure up.

“Over the past three years, Sporty TV, a subsidiary of Sporty Group, the company behind SportyBet, has quietly built a reputation as the continent’s new home of live sport. Its growing portfolio of free-to-air rights now spans some of the world’s biggest competitions, including the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, the Olympics, the Euros, and even the upstart Baller League.”

5. Communiqué 74 & Communiqué 95

Public media is collapsing across Africa, and most coverage treats it as an inevitable decline. But what does survival look like? Though almost five months apart, these two essays provide stellar answers: Nigeria’s NTA focuses on rejigging its content programming, and South Africa’s determined posture to nail its distribution.

“For many public service broadcasters, reinvention begins with content: modernising storytelling, commissioning original programming, and developing new formats for digital audiences. But SABC has taken a different approach. Rather than starting with programming, it began by fixing the plumbing, investing in the technology that underpins digital delivery. With SABC+, the South African broadcaster has chosen to lead with infrastructure: building a platform capable of carrying the institution into the streaming age.”

6. Communiqué 92

Finally, our most personal essay of the year revisited the quiet force behind Nigeria’s media industry: campus journalism. It showed how those student networks built the skills and confidence that later defined a generation of newsroom leaders.

“Yet what’s even more striking about the UCJ’s legacy is that many of its most successful alumni never studied Mass Communication or Media Studies. Dapo Olorunyomi read Literature at Obafemi Awolowo University — a discipline that you could consider journalism-adjacent — but Fisayo Soyombo studied Animal Science at the University of Ibadan, a course far removed from the world of news and storytelling. This pattern repeats itself across generations: some of Nigeria’s finest journalists began as outsiders to the formal study of journalism.”

So there you go, this is our list. Tell us yours in the comments section.

Thank you for reading, supporting, and sharing our work all year. See you again in 2026.

Crunch Time 📈

Curiosity Cabinet

• A second Guinness World Record wasn’t on Hilda Baci’s 2025 to-do list, but she—together with Gino—pulled it off anyway in September by cooking the world’s largest serving of jollof rice. This is the story of how the feat came to be.

• The uncomfortable questions that AI-powered rip-offs and reworks of creative works are forcing Africa’s creative industry to confront.

• Here are the events happening across Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • December 11: MaliyoCon, Africa’s first mobile games conference, holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • December 12: Silverbacks Awards holds in Kampala, Uganda

  • December 12: Abryanz Style and Fashion Awards holds in Kampala, Uganda

  • December 16 - 21: Accra Fashion Week holds in Accra, Ghana

• Don’t forget to explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next year!

The end of the year is usually exciting for the Nigerian film industry. Funke Akindele begins her now-annual billion-naira cinema run, the industry publishes its final box office numbers, and—like clockwork—there’s a significant streaming development.

Last year, that development was Netflix scaling back original productions in Nigeria. This year, two producer-backed streaming platforms are entering the market with a united mission to chip away at YouTube’s dominance.

Today’s Digest examines the claims of these new streamers and their path to sustainability.

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EnFiTV’s plan to increase filmmakers’ earnings

One of the biggest headaches for Nigerian filmmakers is how to effectively and consistently recoup the money invested in their movies. The keywords are “effectively” and “consistently.” Nigeria lacks an established cinema-going culture, piracy remains persistent, and YouTube, the de facto distribution channel for many following the reduced activity of major streamers from the Nigerian market, offers low earnings and limited revenue control.

A team of filmmakers— Olaniyi Famodun and Lanre Awolokun, both producers of Lastcall (2024), and Kome Agbanoma (Lara of Lagos)—believe they have a solution with EnFiTV.

This new streaming platform currently operates on two layers: a consumer-facing app charging 5000 naira domestically and $9.9 internationally, and a producer/filmmaker-facing platform. Think of it like Spotify and Spotify for Artists.

Unlike streaming platforms that rely on acquisitions or exclusive licensing deals, EnFiTV functions like a marketplace. Producers upload content directly through a dashboard for review. Once the titles are approved, they start earning at rates the company claims are at least 1,000% higher than YouTube’s pay-per-view rates. Filmmakers can track payments, viewership, and analytics in real-time.

Crucially, like Spotify, EnFiTV does not require exclusivity. Films available on the platform can also live elsewhere, allowing producers to maximise potential revenue. “Producers want more margins, and they sell to the highest bidder,” Agbanoma, EnFiTV’s head of product and go-to-market, told Communiqué. “We don’t want to take that right away from them. We want to empower them to earn as much as possible.”

However, success won’t come easily. ENFiTV wants to position itself as the global home of Nollywood streaming, particularly targeting African diaspora audiences who are culturally connected but underserved by existing platforms. It’s a promising niche: viewers abroad are more accustomed to paying for digital content and value convenient access to culturally relevant media.

But it’s also a contested space. Platforms like Filmhouse’s Kava and EbonyLife’s ON Plus are pursuing the same audience, with deeper catalogues, institutional backing, and established industry relationships. Their strategies lean on exclusivity and originals. EnFiTV’s marketplace approach shifts power toward creators, potentially changing incentives from licensing once to building catalogues across streamers.

EnFiTV’s model also faces key challenges: content quality control, audience willingness to pay, and the ability to scale payouts to filmmakers sustainably.

But if EnFiTV executes, it could set off a new era for streaming in Nollywood, one where filmmakers have more say in how their works are distributed and how much they earn. Instead of platforms competing based on who has the most exclusive titles, the competition could shift to who offers the best viewing experience, the most flexible access, fairer payouts, and clearer reporting. In that kind of ecosystem, creators benefit, audiences benefit, and the industry becomes more open instead of being controlled by a few major players.

FaithStream targets an underserved streaming audience: African Christians

Starting in January 2026, African audiences will have a dedicated platform to stream their favourite Christian movies and shows. FaithStream, a new streaming service from new media company House of Faith, aims to become the continent’s first large-scale home for faith-based entertainment.

The platform will host a mix of original Christian and inspirational content, including feature films, TV series, documentaries, and podcasts, all available to viewers for free.

House of Faith was established by former Sony Entertainment executive Kunle Falodun earlier this year on the premise that African Christians represent a significant but underserved audience. The company estimates that globally there are fewer than 500,000 hours of Christian content compared to more than 2 billion hours of secular streaming content available to African audiences. And it wants to fill that gap.

FaithStream is the first product in the broader ecosystem House of Faith is building. It says that plans are underway for production studios in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, along with a publishing arm, live events portfolio, and a distribution network reaching more than 49 TV channels across the continent.

The opportunity is clear.

Mount Zion Faith Ministries, a pioneer in the African faith-based media space, has produced over 200 films in the past four decades. Still, it relies heavily on YouTube for digital distribution. FaithStream can serve as another distribution platform. Shows like The Chosen and House of David have proven that faith-based content can succeed on streaming platforms globally. The question now is whether this can work in Africa.

House of Faith says it can keep FaithStream free to access thanks to its donor-funded approach. Though that removes a significant barrier, its long-term sustainability and stability will depend on whether funding can keep pace with the audience demand and the costs of creating or licensing high-quality content. That’s a tough balancing act in an ecosystem where even commercial streamers struggle with retention and monetisation.

Crunch Time 📈

Curiosity Cabinet

• How Redrick PR is positioning itself as the communications backbone for Africa’s creative economy events.

• The final Offscript guest of 2025, Claude Grunitzky, founder and CEO of Equity Alliance and TRUE Africa, shares how a childhood encounter with hip-hop sparked a lifelong mission.

• The future of Nigeria’s creative industry depends on how well its relationship with the local tech ecosystem develops.

• Here are the events happening across Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • December 3 -7: Dakar Fashion Week in Dakar, Senegal

  • December 5 -7: The Rage Expo in Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

I have a quick favour to ask, and I’m counting on you not to disappoint. We’re about to hit a major milestone: 50,000 subscribers across all our publishing channels, and we’d love for our readers (that’s you!) to celebrate with us.

Please reply or comment telling us your favourite Communiqué story or why you read Communiqué.

That’s the favour. And by the way, don’t keep us a secret: tell your friends to sign up too​. (Here is the link to do so.)

Now to this week’s Digest, we discuss:

• South Africa’s new 24-hour visas for international filmmakers

• Morocco’s push to make the gaming industry a core part of its economy

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South Africa’s new fast-track visa system for creatives and filmmakers

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has officially launched a fast-track visa system for international film and creative professionals. The Department announced on November 13 that both local and foreign producer organisations can now submit Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for accreditation under the Screen Talent and Global Entertainment Scheme (STAGES).

The system was first introduced in July by the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, as part of a broader effort to modernise South Africa’s immigration processes. According to Schreiber, STAGES was designed to replace the outdated, paper-heavy system that often left production companies waiting weeks or even months for visa approvals. He cited a Netflix production that was forced to relocate to Mexico after failing to secure the necessary visas for its crew—a move that, he noted, cost South Africa an estimated 400 million rand.

The department introduced a transparent scoring system to decide who gets access to the platform, assessing organisations on compliance, experience, economic impact, and local partnerships. Accredited companies will gain access to a streamlined, digital visa process for foreign cast, crew, and production staff, with approvals expected in as little as 24 hours.

The global film market is increasingly competitive, with countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and the UAE offering streamlined visa processes and tax incentives to attract studios. South Africa, already a popular filming destination for blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and Escape Room, is betting that the move will help it retain its edge and attract more high-value productions.

Morocco sets its sights on the gaming industry

Over the past decade, Morocco has cemented its reputation as a rising force in African sports. It has hosted major tournaments, invested in infrastructure, and nurtured homegrown athletes to compete on the continent’s biggest stages. Now, the government is channelling that same ambition into a new arena: video gaming and esports.

On November 13, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, in partnership with the national fund manager Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG) and its investment arm CDG Invest, announced the launch of the Gamification Lab program. The initiative aims to “encourage the emergence of a national gaming industry” by creating a platform to support Moroccan studios, boost local game development, and drive the domestic adoption of gaming solutions.

This move builds on earlier efforts by the Moroccan government to cultivate digital creativity. In collaboration with France, Morocco launched a Video Game Incubator program in March to support nine gaming startups and develop local talent. In May, the country announced initiatives to strengthen professional training in gaming-related fields, including the introduction of university programs in video game development and the establishment of three new vocational tracks: e-sport caster, e-sport streamer, and video game laboratory technician. It is also working on a $26 million project, the Rabat Gaming City, which would serve as a hub for the country’s gamers, developers, and enthusiasts.

These moves have been framed as efforts to address the country’s unemployment problem and also diversify its economy, which is mainly dependent on tourism, agribusiness and fertiliser production.

Morocco’s gaming industry currently generates around $500 million annually, according to government estimates, with ambitions to double that figure by 2030. The government believes it has a competitive advantage over other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. “Of all media businesses, gaming stood out for offering the best potential to establish ourselves as an African hub,” Nissrine Souissi, director of gaming industry development at the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, said to reporters in June 2024.

Crunch Time 📈

Curiosity Cabinet

• This week’s Communiqué essay examines how Nigeria’s new tax laws, which take effect on January 1, 2026, affect local creators and asks what must be in place for fair and proper taxation of the creator economy.

• In this week’s edition of Offscript, Njoki Muhoho, the former director of Multichoice Talent Factory East Africa, shares how she charted her course to become one of East Africa’s most respected film and television figures.

• More than a third of journalists now identify as a ‘creator journalist’. (Pair with Communiqué 30 for more context)

• Here are the events happening across Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • November 24-26: AfCFTA’s inaugural Creative Connect Africa Forum and Festival holds in Accra, Ghana

  • November 28: West Africa’s largest creative industry conference, NecLive 2025, holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • November 28-30: CTIAF AnimJam 2025, a weekend “hackathon-style” event by Cape Town International Animation Festival, holds in Cape Town, South Africa.

  • November 28-30: The Creators Fest: After Dark, a networking and inspiration evening for female creatives and entrepreneurs in South Africa, holds in Cape Town, South Africa

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Hello!

Every week, we follow the people, policies, and platforms shaping Africa’s media and creative economy, and we’re able to do it because readers like you value our thoughtful coverage. If you’d like to help keep this work going, you can lend your support here.

In this week’s Digest, we discuss:

• Cruise’s new studio and new plans for growth

• What the new Nigerian IP policy means for the country’s creative economy

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Cruise bets on creator-led ecosystems

Nigerian YouTube sensation Cruise has opened Content Lab, a new studio located in a converted warehouse in Ikeja, Lagos. The space will now serve as the headquarters for both Cruise and IO Filmworks, the production company founded by Ibidunni Oladayo, the founder and creative director of Cruise.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Saturday, Oladayo reflected on the brand’s journey from humble beginnings to one of Nigeria’s most-watched YouTube channels. “When we started, I was shooting in my sitting room because that was all we could afford,” he said. “This new space represents growth, not just for us, but for our entire community.”

Cruise’s journey mirrors that of global creators like MrBeast, who began making videos in his bedroom before moving to his first studio, a former church building he renovated for $1.3 million. Similarly, after producing Cruise’s first two videos in a rented space, Oladayo realised that renting continuously would make scaling the channel financially unsustainable. He transformed his living room into a makeshift studio space, and from that small setup, Cruise has grown to over 300,000 subscribers and nearly 30 million views in two years.

The new studio, a 500sqm facility, marks the next phase of Cruise’s evolution, positioning the company for larger productions and collaborations. It features two studios for video production, two make-up studios, and a conference room for production meetings. It will also double as a creative hub for other filmmakers and creators.

In Communiqué 59, we noted that “If Cruise also adapts Jubilee Media’s monetisation playbook, then we will likely see spin-offs of different verticals, such as love and dating verticals like Jubilee Media’s Nectar or a social party game developed around Cruise’s videos, similar to Jubilee Media’s Spectrum series.”

That prediction is now materialising. In addition to the new studio, Cruise is beta testing a dating app called Deep by Cruise, inspired by the company’s flagship dating show Playing Cupid. The app signals Cruise’s move beyond YouTube into interactive social entertainment products. This new venture confirms the company’s expanding ambitions and its intent to build a broader ecosystem around its growing community of fans and viewers.

Nigeria’s new intellectual property policy

Nigeria wants to add $10 billion annually to its GDP by 2030 and create one million jobs from the digital and creative economy. Last week, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved three policies designed to power that ambition: the National Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy (NIPPS), the ratification of the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade, and the establishment of a national coordination mechanism for services exports.

Of the three, NIPPS may prove the most consequential for the creative economy. It is an attempt to build a coherent and functional IP framework in a country where weak enforcement and fragmented registries have enabled piracy and stifled investment.

The policy proposes consolidating existing IP registries into a new agency, the Nigerian Intellectual Property Commission. It also plans to automate IP systems, establish dedicated tribunals, and introduce standalone enforcement legislation to strengthen the legal backbone of Nigeria’s IP landscape.

Notably, the policy recognises the need for IP literacy. It outlines training programmes to help creators understand how to register, manage, license, and commercialise their work. For creative industries, this signals a shift towards more formal copyright registration and stricter enforcement. Creators may face higher compliance costs and additional administrative steps, such as registering works, documenting collaborations, and working more closely with collective management organisations like the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN). However, the trade-off could be better ownership records, improved royalty structures, and stronger legal protection, which would be attractive to investors.

Still, gaps remain. The policy barely addresses digital-era complexities, including streaming royalties and AI-generated content. The proposed implementation timeline is quite optimistic, given Nigeria’s bureaucratic pace. Notably, the final draft was completed in 2022 but approved only in 2025, so the changes may not materialise anytime soon.

Crunch Time 📈

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• South Africa’s public broadcaster needs an urgent reinvention to stay alive, and it is betting on its streaming platform, SABC+, to be the catalyst. This week’s Communiqué essay examines how the broadcaster arrived at this point and assesses the viability of its plan to survive.

• In this week’s edition of Offscript, OluwaMayowa Idowu, Culture Custodian’s co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, shares how he is building Nigeria’s leading youth culture publication.

• Nollywood’s newest solution to fill the funding gap left by streaming platforms: brand collaborations.

• Operating streaming services in Africa is uniquely challenging, and it’s not just about consumers’ budgets. “The physics of data transmission and the economics of content production create barriers that technology alone cannot overcome,” says the CEO of Ethiopia’s leading private broadcaster, KANA TV.

• Here are the events happening across Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • November 14 –16: Play to Win music business summit holds in Lagos, Nigeria.

  • November 19: Creative Business Summit Nigeria holds in Lagos, Nigeria.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

First time reading anything Communique? Join over 49,000 readers who rely on us as the knowledge bank of Africa’s creative economy. Sign up here.

Don’t keep us a secret: tell your friends to sign up too​. And, as always, send us feedback here.

In this week’s Digest, we discuss:

• MultiChoice’s decoder price cuts

• The war against content piracy in Africa

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Will price cuts solve MultiChoice’s customer loss crisis?

In the past three weeks, MultiChoice has announced significant price cuts for its DStv and GOtv decoders across its three largest African markets: Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya. In these markets, the price for the hardware is down by about 30% for DStv and 20% for GOtv.

The company says these cuts are part of a limited-time promotional offer. Dish kits and antennas have also been discounted, with the promotion running until the end of December 2025.

In South Africa, the company has reintroduced Open Time, a long-standing company tradition that grants its decoder users temporary access to DStv Premium content, including sports, movies, and entertainment channels. The move is clearly aimed at enticing existing users to upgrade to higher tiers while drawing new customers to the platform.

The move is the latest from the pay-TV operator under its new management, CANAL+. On paper, these tactics make sense: lower hardware prices and short-term access perks could expand reach and reignite interest. However, in markets like Nigeria, where inflation and economic instability have eroded disposable income, affordability, rather than access, is the real barrier. Many households that already own decoders have stopped subscribing to services. Entertainment has become a luxury, and essentials like food, rent, and fuel now take priority.

Notably, the new management has said it has “bigger plans” to be unveiled early next year. There’s talk of developing a “super app” that combines all of CANAL+ assets across the continent to create a platform meant to compete more directly with global giants like Netflix.

Still, price cuts and new platforms may not be enough. MultiChoice (and, by extension, CANAL+) must find ways to make its content more relevant and its services more affordable in markets where YouTube, TikTok, and social media platforms already dominate attention, and where economic hardship is forcing audiences to choose between staying connected and staying entertained.

The war on content piracy is heating up in Africa

Speaking of alternative ways Africans access entertainment, the popularity of online streaming platforms offering copyrighted movies and TV shows for free—or at minimal cost—has surged across the continent. But so too has the fight against them.

This week, My Family Cinema, one such service popular in South Africa, reportedly informed users it was shutting down permanently. The shutdown has been linked to a recent crackdown on piracy operations in Argentina. The service was among the sites affected by the joint operation. In Nigeria, authorities have also stepped up enforcement. The country’s communications regulator recently suspended MovieBox.ng, a similar platform. Last month, two individuals were arrested for allegedly rebroadcasting DStv and GOtv content without authorisation.

No company has been more outspoken than MultiChoice, which says piracy poses an existential threat not only to its business but also to the broader ecosystem of African creators it supports. In April, the pay-TV giant secured a court order to shut down pirate streaming operation Waka TV for distributing its content unlawfully. It has since intensified its anti-piracy push, joining the Partners Against Piracy (PAP) initiative and working with cybersecurity firm Irdeto to track and shut down illegal networks across multiple countries. MultiChoice has also begun outreach programmes in schools to discourage young people from engaging in illegal streaming.

Piracy is a global issue, but it is particularly prevalent in Africa. A 2021 Irdeto survey found that the top ten piracy websites received 17.4 million visits from users in just five African countries over three months. MUSO’s 2023 survey showed an 18% rise in such visits since 2021. MultiChoice blames weak copyright laws and the widespread perception that piracy is a victimless crime.

The cultural expectation of free entertainment continues to hinder Africa’s creative economy. The real challenge lies in creating affordable, accessible legal options that make piracy not worth the trouble.

Crunch Time 📈

Africa’s rising presence in esports

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• The Music Business Academy for Africa now has a new mission: to help professionalise Africa’s creative economy. This week’s Communiqué essay traces the Academy’s growth to date and explains why this evolution makes perfect sense as its next chapter.

• In this week’s edition of Offscript, Raymond Malinga, co-founder and CEO of Uganda’s Creatures Animation Studio, shares how he built one of East Africa’s largest animation studios.

• Here are the events happening across Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • November 10 – 13: Africa Tech Festival holds in in Cape Town, South Africa.

  • November 10 — 13: Lagos Arts and Book Festival holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • November 12– 14:Ghana Digital & Innovation Week (GDIW) holds in Accra, Ghana

• Over 500 business leaders and investors are gathering at the Counder Conference 2026 to discuss how to support the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Please help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by making a donation here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Communiqué IRL Johannesburg was a blast! The energy in the room was electric, and the conversations cut straight to the heart of South Africa’s creator economy. A big thank you to everyone who joined us.

If you couldn’t make it, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, as always.

In today’s issue, we break down the key lessons from the night and Japan’s growing interest in Nigeria’s and Africa’s animation industry.

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What we learnt at Communiqué IRL Johannesburg

South Africa’s creator economy is thriving, but can it scale across borders and build lasting enterprises? That was the central question at Communiqué IRL Johannesburg, held yesterday evening and powered by TikTok. The event brought together creators, media leaders, and executives to explore how South African creators can transition from content creation to building sustainable, job-creating businesses with regional and global impact.

For many of the speakers, the transformation begins with a mindset shift. Kayise Ngqula, a television host and founder of KNN Media Network, said creators must stop seeing themselves as mere influencers and start thinking like business owners. “For me, that was the catalyst,” she said. “When I think back to when I wanted to be on television, I knew there was so much more I could offer. I just didn’t know how to get the audacity to think I could do that.” She stressed that practical steps like registering a company, opening business accounts, understanding tax obligations, and creating multiple revenue streams from syndication, to advertising and events are essential for long-term growth.

TikTok’s Head of Content Operations for Sub-Saharan Africa, Bonsiwa Sidwaba, added that structure builds credibility. “People are going to invest in something you’ve built,” she said. “You have to be able to say, I’ve built this, I’ve done this.”

Sidwaba also emphasised that success in the creator economy doesn’t require expensive cameras or studios, but consistency and authenticity. “TikTok allowed creators to realise that you don’t need a lot of money or fancy gear,” she said. “You can start creating from where you are.” She noted that the creators who thrive are those who keep showing up. “At the beginning, you might feel like, oh, it only got 100 views. But the creators who have made it today are the ones who were consistent.”

Sidwaba noted, that audiences value authenticity over polish. Rather than waiting for the perfect setup, creators should focus on being real and consistent, adapting their content to fit each platform’s unique style and community. She explained that understanding platform nuances and creating native content often determines whether a creator blends in or breaks through.

Communiqué founder David Adeleke built on this point, observing that while South Africa’s creator ecosystem is one of the most advanced in Africa, it remains too insular. Collaboration, particularly cross-border partnerships like those driving growth in Nigeria’s creator scene, will be key to expanding South Africa’s influence and unlocking new opportunities across the continent.

Ngqula echoed that sentiment, reframing collaboration as both a mindset and a strategy. “You’ve got to move from thinking, ‘my intellectual property is mine,’ to ‘how can I collaborate so everyone gets a piece of the pie?’” she said, citing South African creator Lasizwe as an example of someone successfully expanding his reach beyond the country’s borders.

Beyond creative output, speakers also emphasised the importance of creators engaging in policy and regulatory conversations shaping the industry’s future. “One of the biggest parts of our work is policy,” Adeleke said. “As an industry, we’ve allowed people who don’t understand our nuances to define our destiny.”

Ngqula emphasised that events like Communiqué IRL should spark lasting industry engagement, not end when the lights go out. The Johannesburg edition wrapped up the Communiqué 2025 IRL series, following stops in Lagos and Nairobi. Adeleke hinted that next year’s return would be “bigger, bolder, and better,” as Communiqué continues its mission to connect Africa’s creative economy.

The key takeaway from the evening was clear: South Africa’s creator industry has the talent and ambition to lead Africa’s creative charge, but scaling beyond its borders will require structure, collaboration, and a united voice.

Japan’s interest in Nigeria’s and Africa’s creative sectors

Can you imagine what it would look like if Nigerian or African stories were told in the Japanese anime style? You might not have to imagine for long. A non-profit founded by two Sony Group employees, Arc and Beyond, has partnered with the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) to launch a program that will train African animators and foster creative exchange between both regions.

The initiative, titled “TAIDO African Animation Challenge 2026,” will run from October 2025 to March 2026. Featuring Ghana’s Animax FYB Studios and Nigeria’s Comic Republic’s CR Motion Plus, the program aims to develop animation talent and build industry connections. According to the organisers, TAIDO—meaning “awakening” or “first stirrings of life” in Japanese—captures the project’s goal of sparking new growth for Africa’s animation industry.

Nigeria’s animation scene has been expanding rapidly and gaining global attention, but progress is slowed by limited access to skilled talent. This collaboration could help close that gap by equipping young creators with training and exposure to Japanese animation techniques.

The program also fits into Japan’s broader push to strengthen cultural and creative partnerships with Africa. At the 2025 Lagos International Trade Fair, JETRO will host Super Japan in Lagos—its first pop culture-focused event in Africa. The showcase will unite local anime fans, creators, and Japanese companies through exhibitions, workshops, and stage programs, including a presentation from the TAIDO project. JETRO says the event marks “a new path” for Japanese companies exploring pop culture markets on the continent.

Crunch Time 📈.

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• The print revival of South Africa’s NAG Mag and the print debut of Nigeria’s Culture Custodian signal a broader shift in African and global media. This week’s Communiqué essay posits that the move isn’t driven by nostalgia but by a desire to build credibility, assert permanence in a digital-first world, and open new revenue streams.

• In this week’s edition of Offscript, one of Nigeria’s most promising filmmakers, Dika Ofoma, tells us how he is building his career, one indie short film at a time.

• What kind of creator are you? Get a rough idea with this short quiz.

• Here are the events happening across Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • November 1: The opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt.

  • November 2 – 8: The 14th edition of AFRIFF holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • November 6 – 9: ART X Lagos holds in Lagos, Nigeria

• Over 500 business leaders and investors are gathering at the Counder Conference 2026 to discuss how to support the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Please help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by making a donation here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

It’s the penultimate week in October, and that means this is your last reminder to secure your tickets for Communiqué IRL, the Jo’burg edition. It is happening on October 30, and we’re bringing together voices from South Africa’s creator class to discuss how they built their space and where the industry goes from here. Tickets are free, but seats are limited. If you haven’t registered yet, please do now, here.

First time reading anything Communique? Join over 49,000 readers who rely on us as the knowledge bank of Africa’s creative economy. Sign up here.

Don’t keep us a secret: tell your friends to sign up too​. And, as always, send us feedback here.

In this week’s Digest, we discuss:

• The layoffs at Businessfront

What ANKA’s sale means for African fashion.

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Businessfront lays off staff months after expansion into new verticals

Businessfront, publisher of Techpoint Africa, Finance in Africa, and Energy in Africa, has laid off an undisclosed number of employees across the group. The move, first reported by TechCabal, is part of a restructuring process aimed at ensuring “long-term sustainability” and “sharpening strategic focus.”

In an emailed statement to TechCabal, Businessfront CEO Múyìwá Mátùlúkò confirmed the layoffs, describing them as “limited” and noting that all Businessfront brands remain fully operational. “All brands and emerging products, including Techpoint Africa, remain fully operational, and we continue to serve our audiences and clients without interruption,” he said, without disclosing how many roles were affected or what support would be offered to the affected staff.

Earlier this year, Businessfront expanded its publishing portfolio with the launch of Energy in Africa and Finance in Africa, two new titles aimed at deepening the company’s presence across business sectors beyond technology. The expansion was part of a broader strategy modelled after Industry Dive, the U.S.-based B2B publishing group known for its network of highly targeted industry publications. Businessfront’s goal was to replicate that approach in Africa by building niche publications serving specific verticals such as energy, finance, FMCG, etc.

However, the cost of running multiple editorial teams in a media market constrained by the rise of artificial intelligence, declining referral traffic from Google Search, and a shrinking advertising market has proven challenging, particularly without raising new capital. Techpoint Africa, Businessfront’s oldest publication, remains the company’s primary revenue driver, but it cannot carry the weight of all the other publications without external capital injection.

Such a capital injection would be crucial for strengthening and sustaining editorial operations, while Businessfront focuses on building a commercial engine — anchored by advertising, sponsorships, and events — for each of its verticals. Without this balance between editorial investment and revenue generation, scaling becomes incredibly difficult in today’s volatile digital media environment.

Ultimately, Businessfront’s situation reflects a broader truth about Africa’s digital media landscape: building and sustaining ambitious, high-quality media operations requires more than creativity and strategy; it requires capital. Without dedicated investment funds or financial instruments to support growth, even the most visionary media companies will struggle to scale to their full potential.

The other side of ANKA’s acquisition

Earlier this week, Ivorian fashion e-commerce startup ANKA announced that New York-based Global Shop Group had acquired it for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2016, ANKA evolved from Afrikrea, an online fashion apparel marketplace, into a full-stack infrastructure provider offering logistics, payment solutions, and access to a global audience across over 170 markets. The startup plays a vital role in connecting African creators with international customers, especially in the fashion industry. It has processed more than $60 million in transactions.

African fashion has long been hailed as the next frontier for global exports. But for all the colour and creativity, the numbers still tell a lopsided story. In 2023, the continent’s textile and apparel exports were valued at around $15.5 billion, while imports nearly doubled that at $23.1 billion. The imbalance speaks to a deeper issue: breaking into global retail requires not just great design but also distribution networks, retailer relationships, and capital that African startups rarely command on their own.

For ANKA’s co-founder, Moulaye Tabouré, the acquisition was a necessary step. Despite raising over $13 million and building solid tech, he admits they “needed to go beyond technology” to truly scale their sellers’ businesses, and Global Shop offers “exactly what was missing” to achieve that.

Matilda Ceesay, CEO of Global Shop, says the company plans to make ANKA “stronger and more supportive than ever” to help African sellers attract more customers, streamline operations, and showcase their work to the world.

ANKA’s acquisition offers African creators greater reach through Global Shop’s network. But it also raises a familiar tension: greater visibility versus local control. With foreign capital and infrastructure now steering more of Africa’s fashion pipeline, the continent gains reach but risks losing ownership.

This pattern extends beyond fashion. Across Africa’s creative industries —from music streaming to film distribution and digital art platforms —distribution and scale often come at the cost of ceding control.

Crunch Time 📈

Where Africa’s game developers are building

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• Nigeria’s campus journalism associations are quietly shaping the country’s media class. Once seen as student hobbies, these groups have become pipelines feeding some of the biggest newsrooms in and outside Nigeria.

• In this week’s edition of Offscript, Guinean-American media entrepreneur Abdulai Jalloh talks about building Bordernation, a pan-African storytelling company, straight out of high school.

• The story of one of the only 4 Nigerians who hold the certification to teach an industry-standard animation software.

• Rwanda’s film industry is currently having a historic moment. Access to domestic funding is on the rise for Rwandan filmmakers, and the sector is getting busier.

• The online gaming value chain in Africa is maturing fast. Russell Southwood, in this two-part series (Part 1 & Part 2), traces its growth and barriers to further development.

• Here are the events happening across Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • October 22 -25: The Africa Travel Content Creator Conference (AFTCOC) holds in Kampala, Uganda.

  • October 23 - 26: Design Week South Africa 2025 holds in Cape Town, South Africa

  • October 29 - 31: Pan-African film tour, the Annual Film Mischief, takes the third leg of its tour to Tanzania

  • October 29 — November 2: Lagos Fashion Week holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • October 30 – November 3, 2025: Accra Cultural Week holds in Accra, Ghana

  • October 25 --- January 23, 2026: Lagos Photo Festival holds in Lagos, Nigeria

• Over 500 business leaders and investors are gathering at the Counder Conference 2026 to discuss how to support the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Please help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

The final quarter of the year is always event season in West Africa’s tech and creative sectors. It’s hitting its first peak this week with Moonshot by TechCabal, Creation Africa Forum, and Africa Business Angel Network (ABAN) all happening in Lagos. If you missed out on all these, do not fret. There are more coming. You get a list of creative economy events happening next week at the end of today’s Digest. Check it out and see which ones you’ll be attending.

And if you’re in Johannesburg, Communiqué is hosting its signature networking event on October 30. You already know that’s one you don’t want to miss. If you haven’t registered yet, you are about to miss out on the best thing to ever happen in South Africa’s creator economy. Tickets are free; get yours here.

In today’s Digest, we discussed:

• What we learned from Moonshot 2025’s Creative Economy track

• SportyTV’s move to expand its reach across Africa

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The Creative Economy takes centre stage at Moonshot

On the creative economy stage at Moonshot by TechCabal, West Africa’s largest technology conference, some of the continent’s leading voices in film, music, technology, and policy gathered to discuss the future of Africa’s creative sector. The sessions featuring an array of important stakeholders in the industry, including Jason Njoku, the founder of iROKOtv, Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, convener of ArtX Lagos, Audu Maikori, CEO of Chocolate City, and Gautier Mignot, the EU Head of Delegation in Nigeria, explored key themes such as digital platforms, intellectual property, creative infrastructure, and film distribution.

Opening the day, Jason Njoku reflected on how technology has reshaped the business of creativity, lowering barriers and allowing more Africans to produce and distribute their work. Yet he warned that the same tools can erode long-term value when creators give up ownership. “Putting content on YouTube for free drives the value of that content down in the long term,” he said, urging creators to control both their content and distribution.

That concern was echoed by Communiqué’s Research Lead, Chukwuyemisi Isichei, who previewed the Communiqué 2025 Africa Creator Report. According to the report, African creators now make up a distinct “working class” contributing measurable economic activity but still struggle to capture fair value. While more creators are earning income than ever before, the report highlights that monetisation remains fragmented, with only a small percentage able to build sustainable careers from their work.

A separate session, moderated by Communiqué’s Deborah Oguike, featured Jide Martin, CEO of Comic Republic and Claude Grunitzky, Managing Partner and CEO of Equity Alliance and former CEO of TRACE TV, and explored how digital platforms are transforming Africa’s creative economy. For Martin, accessibility has changed everything: “You just need your phone and internet to be a global star,” he said. Grunitzky identified three drivers of the boom: smartphone penetration, diaspora influence, and improved creative tools, but warned that global platforms like YouTube and TikTok dominate monetisation.

He urged African entrepreneurs to build smaller, specialised digital platforms focused on specific creative industries. Martin agreed, saying African-led platforms should coexist with global ones: “We can build our own, but we shouldn’t isolate ourselves.”

Both speakers agreed that ownership is the ultimate goal. “Once we created value, we could negotiate,” Martin said, referencing Comic Republic’s success with original IP. Looking ahead, both see AI and machine learning as the next frontier — tools that could help Africa leapfrog existing challenges, if backed by investment.

During her session, filmmaker Funmbi Ogunbanwo added another layer to the discussion, emphasising that talent alone cannot sustain growth. “Until we build a self-sufficient ecosystem, we won’t be able to reap the benefits of our work fully,” she said, advocating for investments in local technical expertise and creative infrastructure.

In a panel on intellectual property, Moe Odele, Oyinkansola Fawehinmi, and Audu Maikori discussed why enforcement often fails in Africa. “We’ve borrowed laws from places with entirely different cultural and economic contexts,” Fawehinmi noted, calling for frameworks that reflect how Africans actually create and share their work.

Though the event did not break new ground, it deepened an ongoing conversation that’s becoming more rigorous, data-driven, and self-aware. The tone has shifted from aspiration to accountability: Africa’s creative economy knows its worth, and the challenge now is to build the systems, laws, and ownership models to claim it.

Sporty TV expands access to free live sports across Africa

SportyTV, the sports broadcasting arm of Sporty Group, is reaffirming its position as Africa’s fastest-growing free-to-air sports network with a renewed push to reach more audiences and advertisers across the continent.

Over the past two years, SportyTV has transformed how millions of Nigerians watch live sports, delivering more than 600 major sporting events, including the English Premier League, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the Olympics, completely free of charge. During the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, Sporty TV reached over 7 million people in Nigeria and 50 million across Africa. The network has also secured rights to broadcast the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, strengthening its reputation as a key player in Africa’s sports broadcasting landscape.

SportyTV’s multi-platform approach has been central to its rapid growth. The channel is accessible via StarTimes’ digital terrestrial television (DTT) service, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), as well as on mobile through the SportyTV app and YouTube channel, ensuring that live sports are available to fans anywhere, anytime.

According to the company, this renewed market push is focused on spotlighting the channel’s value for advertisers. “SportyTV combines mass-market reach with digital accessibility,” the company said in a statement. “We’re creating one of the most engaging and impactful platforms for brands to connect with Africa’s most passionate sports audiences.”

Beyond broadcasting global tournaments, SportyTV is investing in local programming, including locally produced shows in indigenous languages, national competitions, and fan-led storytelling that reflect how Nigerians experience sport.

Through partnerships with NTA and international media organisations, SportyTV is redefining what free-to-air television can mean for Africa, merging premium sports content with accessibility, technology, and local storytelling.

*Disclosure: Sporty Group is a client of Communiqué Advisory, the consulting arm of Communiqué.

Crunch Time 📈

Micro-creators rule Nigeria

Catch Up 📬

Communiqué 91: Kenya’s Akili TV is growing with its audience

Kenya’s Akili TV is quietly laying the foundation for what could become a Nickelodeon-like media empire on the African continent. Its evolution from producing children’s shows to maturing its content alongside its young audience mirrors the early trajectory of the American giant.

Of course, there’s more to becoming “Africa’s Disney” than great programming. This week’s Communiqué essay explores how founders Jeff Schon and Jesse Soleil turned a $9 million experiment in children’s television into Kenya’s leading family-focused TV network, and what’s next for the company as it scales.

Read the full essay here. Don’t forget to share with your friends, too.

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• This week’s Offscript guest, Lisa MacLeod, shares how she built her career as a journalist turned media consultant over the last three decades, all thanks to her early love of reading.

• New data shows that creator-driven marketing delivers more substantial long-term brand benefits than short-term campaigns.

• Over 500 business leaders and investors are gathering at the Counder Conference 2026 to discuss how to support the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

• Here are the events happening across

  • October 16 - 26: NBO Film Festival holds in Nairobi, Kenya

  • October 17 - 21: Medenine International Film Festival holds in Djerba, Tunisia

  • October 17 – December 18: Lagos Biennale holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • October 23 – 27: Lagos International Poetry Festival holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • October 23– 28: Design Week Lagos 2025 holds in Lagos, Nigeria

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Please help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

In today’s Digest, we discussed:

• Communiqué IRL Joburg’s headline sponsor

• MultiChoice’s reprieve with regulators over its pricing hike

• SABC’s bright spots

  ---

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Tiktok is the headline sponsor for Communiqué IRL Johannesburg

The Communiqué team is excited to announce TikTok as the headline sponsor for the Johannesburg edition of our flagship networking event, Communiqué IRL (In Real Life), set to take place on Thursday, October 30, 2025.

With IRL, Communiqué brings together creatives, investors, policymakers, and other key stakeholders from across the African creative ecosystem, including the creator economy, in major cities across the continent. The goal is to deliberate on ideas and issues that drive growth, innovation, and sustainability within the sector.

This partnership underscores the social media powerhouse’s commitment to playing an active role in advancing the continent’s creator economy. As a partner, TikTok will help foster critical discussions around the future and growth of South Africa’s local creator ecosystem.

The Johannesburg edition is the third IRL event this year, following successful editions in Lagos and Nairobi, which were widely praised for sparking important conversations around the Nigerian film industry and the role of data in East Africa’s creative economy.

This time, the spotlight turns to South Africa, and we will discuss how the country’s creator class has evolved over the past decade and what lies ahead.

If you haven’t gotten your ticket yet, register here and join us as we shape the future of the African creative economy.

Secure your spot here

MultiChoice, Nigerian and Ghanaian regulators settle pricing dispute

Executives at MultiChoice can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the company makes progress in resolving its pricing disputes with Nigerian and Ghanaian regulators.

On Tuesday, October 7, Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) withdrew the criminal charges filed against executives of MultiChoice Nigeria Limited. The withdrawn charge had accused the company of obstructing an investigation and ignoring a lawful summons related to its pricing practices, in violation of the FCCPC Act, 2018.

The dispute arose after MultiChoice executives failed to appear before the commission on February 25 and refused to submit documents linked to a summons over its March 1 subscription price review. FCCPC’s legal counsel reportedly told the Federal High Court that both parties had since reached an understanding, and a notice of withdrawal was filed on August 16.

Meanwhile, last week, Ghana’s Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George, announced that MultiChoice had agreed to give subscribers between 33% and 50% more value on their packages. This ends a standoff that began in late July. Ghanaian subscribers will begin enjoying the revised packages from October 1, 2025, for an initial three-month period, after which a joint committee will assess the results.

For MultiChoice, the development offers much-needed relief after months of increased regulatory pressure that has kept the company in the news almost nonstop since February. Its new majority owner, Groupe CANAL+, which increased its stake again over the course of the week, will now have to confront declining subscriber numbers and growing competition from streaming services. The settlements give the French media group room to steady operations and prepare for a strategic update expected in the first quarter of 2026, when it will outline its plans for MultiChoice’s next chapter.

SABC’s focus on digital transformation is paying off

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) may still be struggling with financial strain, but its digital transformation strategy is beginning to yield results.

According to its 2025 financial report released on October 3, the broadcaster recorded a 13% increase in traffic to its news website. On its streaming platform, SABC Plus, news content views increased from 1.8 million in the third quarter to 2.2 million in the fourth quarter, with more than 800,000 registered users. Podcast downloads on its OMNY audio platform surged by 290% year-on-year.

SABC also posted strong social media growth. Its X (Twitter) account now exceeds three million followers, Facebook followers grew 30%, and TikTok followers jumped 73%. On YouTube, total views rose 26% year-on-year to 308 million, with subscribers up 24% to 2.85 million.

Despite these gains, the broadcaster remains financially fragile. It reported a loss of $14.7 million (R253 million) — down 28% from the previous year — even as total revenue increased 1.3% to $290 million (R5.15 billion). Advertising and sponsorships accounted for 68.7% of the income, while TV licence fees contributed 14.7%, government grants accounted for 5.8%, and other services made up 10.8%.

CEO Nomsa Chabeli said the digital momentum reflects progress but warned that the SABC’s “obsolete” business model must be replaced with a more “sustainable and equitable” funding system. “Our current model was built for a world that no longer exists — one with captive radio and TV audiences. Today, we operate in a highly competitive, digital-first environment, but without the financial flexibility or funding structure our competitors enjoy,” she said.

The broadcaster’s renewed focus on digital transformation aims to futureproof its operations while pursuing a more viable funding model. The relaunch of SABC Plus in July 2024 and the upgrade of its news website were key components of this effort. Now, SABC is doubling down on its digital-first strategy, with plans to launch direct-to-home (DTH) devices to help recover audiences and advertising revenue.

Crunch Time 📈

Africa’s little slice of the global gaming pie

Catch Up 📬

Communiqué 90: The house that NAG Mag built

New Age Gaming (NAG) Magazine launched its first issue in April 1998 and has since remained a powerhouse in the South African gaming scene. Its flagship event, rAge Expo, is the largest gaming convention in South Africa, attracting over 40,000 attendees annually.

But like many print publications of its era, NAG faced a harsh reality in the early 2010s. As readers migrated online, the once-thriving print edition struggled to keep up, eventually folding under the weight of digital disruption.

Now, the magazine is making a nostalgic comeback. Following limited-edition releases in 2023 and 2024, the NAG team is considering a quarterly schedule if the 2025 edition performs well.

This week’s Communiqué essay revisits NAG’s legacy to contextualise these new plans to revive its print issue as a collector’s item.

Read the full essay here. Don’t forget to share with your friends, too.

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• This piece by Tochi Louis explains why and how Africa’s financial sector can play a defining role in supporting the continent’s creative economy.

• Kenya’s Creative Economy Bill is under fire again. The country’s bloggers want legislators to add an expansive definition of “creative economy” that includes digital content creation.

• This week’s Offscript guest, Jessica Hope, CEO of Wimbart, shares how hard work and community helped her build Africa’s foremost PR agency for tech startups.

• Africa’s biggest tech conference, Moonshot by TechCabal, returns for the 2025 edition on October 15 & 16, 2025. Join us at the Creative Economy Track as we talk about the state of the industry on the continent and what’s next. Get your tickets here.

• Join David, our founder, as he co-hosts the second edition of the Création Africa Forum (October 16–18; Victoria Island, Lagos), a French government initiative that fosters dialogue and cooperation between Africa and Europe. Register here.

• Communiqué IRL, the Johannesburg edition, is happening live on October 30. If you haven’t registered yet, you are about to miss out on the best thing to ever happen in South Africa’s creator economy. Tickets are free; get yours here.

• Over 500 business leaders and investors are gathering at the Counder Conference 2026 to discuss how to support the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Please help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

If the Digest were a month, it would complete its cycle today. That means you’ve received 31 (plus today’s) stories we believe are crucial to understanding the inner workings of Africa’s creative economy.

With the month now wrapped up, it feels like a good moment for an evaluation. What are we doing well? Which stories stood out as your favourites—and why? And where do you think we can do better? I’d love to hear your thoughts, whether in the comments or directly in this mailbox if you’d prefer a private exchange.

When the new “Digest Month” (pardon the corny joke) starts next week, your suggestions will help shape it for the better.

Now, onto what we cover today:

• TikTok’s growing bromance with African creators

• Sierra Leone is doubling down on its creative economy.

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TikTok deepens its commitment to Africa

TikTok is deepening its investment in Africa with #LevelUpAfrica, a talent and skills training programme rolling out one country at a time. The platform says this new phase, first launched in 2021, aims to train over 3,000 creators.

Unveiled at TikTok Creator Education Day in Lagos in September, the eight-month programme combines virtual masterclasses, Q&A panels, and in-person events. It will cover content strategy, brand partnerships, monetisation, TikTok’s algorithm, and Community Guidelines. Participants will also receive mentorship from experienced creators and industry experts. The programme has already reached Johannesburg and Nairobi, with Accra next in line.

The initiative builds on TikTok’s 2023 Africa Creator Hub and reflects a broader push by global tech giants to lock into Africa’s growing creator economy. YouTube, Meta, and Google are pursuing similar strategies. Google, for instance, recently trained 40 young Nigerian creators on using its AI tools, including Gemini, to turn content into viable businesses.

Africa is often framed as the “next frontier” in global digital conversations, but the critical question is impact. Will these programmes empower creators and ensure equitable participation, or will they allow platforms to extract value from local talent? For many, the real test is whether attention can be translated into sustainable livelihoods.

For TikTok, one clear marker of progress would be giving African creators broader access to monetisation. Currently, only a limited number of countries qualify. If #LevelUpAfrica leads to expanded access, it could help creators turn global reach into real income.

Connect with us on Instagram

Sierra Leone puts numbers to its creative economy

Sierra Leone’s creative industries now contribute 4.5% to the country’s GDP and are the second-largest source of formal jobs after wholesale and retail trade. This is according to a new Creative Economy Diagnostic Report released by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs in partnership with the World Bank.

The report adds the country to the growing list of African nations mapping and prioritising their creative economies. The sector accounts for over 10% of formal employment, despite being largely “informal and fragmented.” Fashion and textiles lead with an estimated 11,000 formal jobs, followed closely by crafts with 10,700. Together, these and three other key industries make up 84% of the creative economy.

Yet Sierra Leone faces challenges common across the continent. Policy and regulation remain fragmented, with overlapping mandates across ministries and weak institutional support. Infrastructure is inadequate, access to finance is scarce, and intellectual property protection is without teeth.

A particularly acute issue is digital monetisation. Unlike peers in Nigeria or South Africa, Sierra Leonean creatives are excluded from global revenue systems such as the YouTube Partner Program, TikTok, and Spotify. This exclusion limits international reach and narrows opportunities for sustainable income.

The report signals the government’s growing recognition of the sector’s economic and cultural value. But its findings are clear: success depends not on new promises but on execution. Coordinated, well-funded, and sustained action will be critical if Sierra Leone’s creative industries are to move from potential to prosperity.

Crunch Time 📈

Canal+’s moonshot: be a top five global media & entertainment company

Catch Up 📬

Communiqué 89: AI filmmaking in Africa finally has a ground zero

What will Artificial Intelligence in African filmmaking look like?

Early last month, the Alliance Française in Lagos hosted the first-ever Naija AI Film Festival, drawing hundreds of filmmakers and technologists to explore that very question. The gathering marked a bold starting point and hinted at the radical possibilities of AI for storytelling on the continent.

This week’s Communiqué essay looks at the vision of festival convener Obinna Okerekeocha and what his plans reveal about the future of AI-assisted filmmaking in Africa.

Read the full essay here.

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• South African game developer Nyamakop wants you to recover Africa’s looted artefacts in its new game, Relooted. The title is set to launch on PC and Xbox soon, but you can try the demo now on Steam.

• Temu’s rise in African e-commerce wasn’t as sudden—or as total—as it may seem. Here’s a breakdown of how this marketing professional helped the Chinese-owned platform crack the Nigerian market and challenge incumbents like Jumia.

• A super useful lens on where media might be headed in the wake of GenAI’s impact on journalism and content creation. (Pair this with Communiqué 75.)

• This week’s Offscript guest is Molly Jensen, CEO of Afripods, who shares how her athletic background and competitive instincts are shaping her journey in the C-suite and driving the growth of Africa’s premier podcasting network.

• Join David, our founder, as he co-hosts the second edition of the Création Africa Forum (October 16–18; Victoria Island, Lagos), a French government initiative that fosters dialogue and cooperation between Africa and Europe. Register here.

• Communiqué IRL, the Johannesburg edition, is happening live on October 30. If you haven’t registered yet, you are about to miss out on the best thing to ever happen in South Africa’s creator economy. Tickets are free; get yours here.

• Over 500 business leaders and investors are gathering at the Counder Conference 2026 to discuss how to support the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

Thank you for reading Communiqué! Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage they deserve by donating here.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

In case you missed the announcement, Communiqué IRL is coming to Johannesburg this October, and you don’t want to miss it.

Join us on the 30th as we host TikTok’s head of operations for Sub-Saharan Africa, Boniswa Sidwaba, CEO of KNN Media, Kayise Ngqula, and CEO of Africa Podcast Network, Jon Savage.

Expect candid conversations about the creator economy in South Africa, along with numerous opportunities to connect with inspiring individuals. Seats are limited, reserve yours now.

In today’s Digest, we discuss

• Disney+’s ESPN rollout in South Africa

• Ghana and Multichoice’s price hike

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Disney+ expands in South Africa with ESPN

Starting October 2, 2025, South Africans will be able to stream ESPN on Disney+, as the platform expands its local offering with live sports.

Disney announced on September 22 that its two 24-hour ESPN channels will be available at no extra cost to Premium and Mobile plan subscribers. The channels will feature live and studio programming from major U.S. leagues, including the NBA, MLB, and NHL, as well as rugby competitions from Australia and Japan. Viewers will also gain access to European football tournaments, including the English Championship, Germany’s DFB-Pokal, the Turkish Süper Lig, and the Saudi Pro League.

Disney+ first launched in South Africa in 2022, entering a competitive streaming market dominated by MultiChoice. By adding live sports to its catalogue of films and series, Disney+ is targeting a new segment of subscribers: sports fans who have long relied on MultiChoice’s SuperSport for coverage of major local and international events.

Diego Londono, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Networks and Sports at The Walt Disney Company EMEA, said the move reflects Disney’s broader strategy. “The launch of the ESPN Africa linear channels on Disney+ in South Africa reflects our strategy to reach sports fans across multiple platforms and connect with new audiences,” he stated.

The ESPN channels are already available on MultiChoice’s DStv and on StarTimes across Africa. Their addition to Disney+ positions the platform more competitively in Africa’s sports broadcasting market, where live rights remain the crown jewel.

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Ghana’s DStv price war nears resolution

The long-running standoff between MultiChoice and Ghanaian regulators over subscription fees may be nearing resolution, with a government-appointed committee expected to present its findings on Monday, September 29, 2025.

The committee was established earlier this month to mediate between the company and the state, following a clash between Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovation Minister Samuel Nartey George and MultiChoice over a 15% fee hike introduced in April. The minister has repeatedly described the increase as unfair.

While George has pushed for a 30% reduction, analysts expect the committee’s report to recommend a compromise, like a phased price cut or a cap on future increases linked to inflation, rather than fully backing either side.

The dispute in Ghana reflects a broader wave of regulatory pressure facing MultiChoice across Africa, now under the ownership of French media group Canal+. The $3 billion takeover, completed earlier this year, has reshaped Africa’s largest pay-TV operator, which is also contending with regulatory battles in Nigeria and growing consumer discontent in Kenya, where steep price hikes have accelerated subscriber losses.

For Canal+, regulatory goodwill may prove as critical to its African expansion strategy as securing premium sports rights or investing in technology upgrades. The Ghanaian outcome could signal how the new parent company balances profitability with political and consumer pressures across its largest markets.

Crunch Time 📈

The creative economy’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP

Catch Up 📬

Communiqué 88: The publishing company behind Femi Otedola’s bestselling book

Narrative Landscape’s record-breaking sales of Femi Otedola’s autobiography and Chimamanda Adichie’s latest novel stand out in a climate where the consensus is that Nigerians don’t read.

This week’s Communiqué essay traces how the humble beginnings of the company, which now boasts an enviable catalogue featuring Chimamanda Adichie, Lupita Nyong’o, and Wole Soyinka, and how it has, over time, built the trust and reputation that made today’s milestones possible.

Read the full essay here. Don’t forget to share with friends and support Communiqué so we can tell more stories like this.

Communiqué’s Subscriber of the Week 🤩

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• ICYMI, the Nigeria Creator Economy Report is now live, and it shows how local creators are contributing significantly to the country’s economic growth.

• More good news: Communiqué emerged as one of the winners of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s Global Call for solutions for an Inclusive Digital Economy.

• Lanre Shonoki on taking a structured approach to proper value capture for investors and operators in the Nigerian creative economy.

• This week’s Offscript guest, Benjamin Dada, tells us what he values most in a hire as he built Condia, one of Africa’s leading tech publications.

• Over 500 business leaders and investors gather here at Counder Conference 2026 to discuss and connect on how to support the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Love what you just read? Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage it deserves by making a donation here.

You know what’s better than money? More money! African startups are experiencing a resurgence in funding, with over $2 billion flowing into more than 500 deals across the continent in the first half of 2025. While the creative economy is not prominent on the list, it's getting its share. Today’s Digest shows how.

Communiqué IRL is coming to Johannesburg this October. Join us for an evening of insightful conversations on the creator economy in South Africa, with numerous opportunities to connect with inspiring individuals. Seats are limited, reserve yours now.

In today’s Digest, we discuss:

• Chude Jidenowo’s $500,000 creator fund

• Silverbacks Holdings and ImpactHER's investment in two Zimbabwean fashion brands.

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Chude Jidenowo’s $500,000 creator fund

Nigerian media entrepreneur Chude Jideonwo has announced the launch of the Fourth Mainland Creator Fund, a $500,000 initiative that will provide direct capital injections to individual African creators. Jideonwo unveiled the fund during his keynote address at the Digital Creator Africa Summit in Lagos, stating that it will commence operations in January 2026 with nearly ₦1 billion of his personal funds.

Unlike traditional grant or mentorship programs, the Fourth Mainland Fund will provide direct investments to individual creators rather than companies or NGOs. Jideonwo said the goal is to back bold individuals who understand their audiences and have the potential to scale into global media brands.

“Grants don’t build empires. Mentorship doesn’t scale industries. Capital does,” Jideonwo told the audience. “Creators don’t need permission; they need people betting on them in a systemic pattern.”

Additionally, the fund is platform-agnostic. Programs like the StarNews Mobile Fund and the YouTube Black Voices Fund have previously invested in African creators, but they were tied to specific platforms. YouTube’s fund, for instance, included musicians and digital creators but was limited to the YouTube ecosystem. By contrast, Fourth Mainland will back creators wherever their audiences are, whether on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Substack, or beyond.

The fund will be managed by Jideonwo’s Joy Inc, under newly appointed CEO Jennifer Mairo, and will also launch a “record label for creators.” Africa’s creator economy is one of the fastest-growing sectors on the continent, projected to grow from $3.08 billion in 2023 to almost $30 billion by 2032. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have already produced multimillion-dollar African stars such as Mark Angel, Tayo Aina, and Ruth Kadiri. Jideonwo argues that institutional investment is the next step to accelerate these successes.

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Zimbabwean fashion startups secure investment after CANEX pitch success

Two Zimbabwean fashion startups, Vanhu Vamwe and The Rad Black Kids, have secured investment from Mauritius-based private investment firm Silverbacks and Nigeria-based non-profit ImpactHER to scale their operations.

The deals were brokered through Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) platform. Both startups gained visibility during the 2024 CANEX WKND pitch sessions, where Vanhu Vamwe won first place and The Rad Black Kids placed third. Alongside Cameroonian brand Kibonen, they attracted part of a $100,000 pledge from a consortium of investors.

Silverbacks and ImpactHER were part of a wider group of angel investors that collectively committed $450,000 to early-stage creative ventures at the event. Separately, Moji Hunponu-Wusu of WoodHall Capital pledged $250,000 to Kibonen. Overall, Afreximbank reported that the 2024 edition facilitated $540 million in deals for Africa’s creative economy.

The 2025 CANEX activities were later held at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025), which concluded in Algiers on 10 September with a record $48.3 billion in trade and investment agreements.

Though rooted in Zimbabwe, both Vanhu Vamwe and The Rad Black Kids have a global retail footprint. Their collections are stocked by Amazon subsidiary BOP Inc, Net-a-Porter, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Selfridges, across the US, UK, and Asia. Silverbacks said this reach was decisive: “Both brands represent Africa’s growing influence in global fashion by blending cultural heritage with scalable, foreign-currency-earning business models.”

The investment comes amid a broader push by African fashion brands into global retail. Kenya’s Vivo Fashion recently opened its first US store in Atlanta, while Nigeria's Ashluxe opened its London store in June. Also, in the US teenagers are driving demand for Nigerian-designed dresses. UNESCO values Africa’s annual fashion exports at $15.5 billion, with demand projected to rise by 46% over the next decade.

For Silverbacks, the Zimbabwean investments expand a creative industry portfolio that includes Guinea Bissau footwear brand, Armando Cabral, South African sports-tech startup NERGii, and the African Warriors Fighting Championship.

Crunch Time 📈

African movie titles on global streamers

Catch Up 📬

Communiqué 87: Archiving wants to interrupt Nigeria’s historical patterns of repetition

Archiving first drew social media attention in 2023 by resurfacing old Nigerian newspaper stories that echoed today’s realities. But as co-founder Fu’ad Lawal noted at the maiden edition of the organisation's annual event, the project’s mission goes beyond nostalgia. This week’s Communiqué essay explores what Archiving is really building. Here's an excerpt for you.

“Archiving is in the fourth stage in the evolution of memory projects, where data becomes usable knowledge. Without this stage, archives risk becoming static museums: impressive, but inert. With it, they can transform into dynamic tools for sensemaking—helping societies understand their past, confront their present, and perhaps interrupt the cycles they seem destined to repeat.”

Read the full story here.

Subscribe now

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• Tony Doe explains why African podcasters should take Spotify’s new terms of use seriously: “For podcasters, don’t confuse ownership of your files with control over their distribution.”

• This week’s edition of Offscript by Communiqué goes behind the scenes of Lonwabo Mavuso’s remarkable journey in building Andani.Africa, one of the foremost pan-African research agencies focused on the creative and cultural industries.

• Can Twitch and livestreaming become a thing in Nigeria? Some young Nigerians are braving the odds to make it a viable career path—and maybe even become the next Kai Cenat.

• Over 500 business leaders and investors will be gathering at Counder Conference 2026 to discuss and connect on how to back the next generation of cultural and creative entrepreneurs.

• Here is what is happening in Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • 19–27 September: Sotambe Zambia Film Festival, the country’s largest film festival, takes place in Lusaka.

  • 19–21 September: Macondo Literary Festival is held in Nairobi, Kenya.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Love what you just read? Help us give Africa’s media and creative industries the coverage it deserves by making a donation here.

Monetisation has always been the biggest headache for African creators. Both local and global platforms still lack the structures to pay them, leaving many working hard but earning little or nothing. As today’s Digest shows, government policies can either ease these struggles or make them worse.

A quick note: If you value the insights you get from Communiqué, please consider supporting us by donating here.

In today’s Digest, we discuss

• South Africa’s push to tax creators

• A local payments partner for Ghanaian TikTokers

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The Taxman comes for South African social media influencers

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has included social media influencers in the tax bracket. Under the country’s Income Tax Act, all income earned by influencers—whether from products, services, travel, or grants—must be declared.

In August, SARS urged influencers to regularise their tax affairs, describing them as “entrepreneurs” who leverage their social followings for income. In a follow-up statement on September 6, the agency reiterated its stance, stressing that it will first help influencers understand how to comply before applying penalties. Commissioner Edward Kieswetter emphasised that while SARS aims to provide clarity, influencers must also “uphold their end of the bargain.”

The development mirrors Kenya, where recent amendments introduced new taxes on creators earning through YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. The move has drawn criticism for applying an Excise Duty Tax, traditionally designed to curb harmful consumption, to the digital economy. Creators and analysts argue that such taxes ignore the unique nature of online work and could stifle a fast-growing sector that provides income for young people.

Beyond Africa, governments are taking similar steps. The trade-off for public investment in e-commerce infrastructure and digital policies is that tax obligations follow. With rising fiscal pressures, authorities worldwide, including in the U.S., are expanding revenue bases to capture earnings in the creator economy. Kenya’s President William Ruto defended the approach in December 2024: “Some creators now earn up to Ksh 1 million. Someone earning Ksh 20,000 or 30,000 pays tax. If you earn Ksh 1 million, isn’t it correct to contribute something to the tax kitty, especially when we’ve enabled you to achieve that? I think that makes sense.”

Ghana Commercial Bank wants a piece of TikTok’s funds

Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) is lobbying to become the designated payment gateway for the country’s TikTok creators. On Monday, bank officials reportedly met with Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George to pitch a framework that would allow creators to receive TikTok earnings directly through local banking channels.

The bank argued that its partnerships with Mastercard and Visa position it well to manage payouts. TikTok has said it will examine the feasibility of the proposal.

The move highlights a long-standing challenge: TikTok relies on processors like Stripe, which is unavailable in most African countries, weakening the continent’s position in the digital economy. GCB’s push is notable because it seeks to fill this gap.

But payments are only part of the problem. The TikTok Creator Rewards program, which pays eligible creators, is unavailable in Africa. The TikTok Creator Marketplace, which connects brands with influencers, is also limited. Currently, only Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa access some form of payout scheme through the TikTok Effect Creator Rewards program, which operates in just 53 regions worldwide.

Even if GCB succeeds, few Ghanaian creators would qualify for payouts. About 52,021 creators in Ghana meet the 10,000-follower threshold for the Creator Rewards program, while only 4,676 accounts surpass the 100,000 followers required for the Marketplace. By contrast, Nigeria counts 203,485 creators with over 10,000 followers and 16,287 with over 100,000.

Globally, TikTok has not announced any official partnerships with traditional banks like GCB. Still, solving the payments bottleneck could be a crucial step toward unlocking wider monetisation for African creators and sparking more local interest in TikTok. For now, all eyes are on how the platform responds.

Crunch Time 📈

The size of South Africa’s influencer pool

Catch Up 📬

The results of Fusion Intelligence’s community cinema project pilot are out

The ambitious community cinema project gives us a glimpse of another dimension of the trade-offs between content protection and user experience. This week’s Communiqué essay digs into what went right, what went wrong, and the lessons for Nigeria’s film distribution future.

Here is an excerpt for you:
“Fusion Intelligence had over-indexed on security with Convoy. The platform allowed producers to upload their films, have them encrypted, and securely stream them to authorised locations with unique decryption keys. On paper, this solved Nollywood’s greatest fear: piracy. But in practice, Convoy’s security system created a broken viewing experience.”

Read the full essay here.

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• Ogelle, a short-lived African version of YouTube, might be coming back. The founder, Osita Oparaugo, hinted at this in this personality feature by TechCabal.

• Antia Ebiogbe, Big Cabal Media’s Chief Operating Officer, this week’s Offscript guest, tells us how she is building her career in the media industry by harnessing chaos to do big things.

• Here is what is happening in Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • 13 September: Naija AI Film Festival 2025 in Lagos

  • 16-18 September: Africa Film Finance Forum (AFFF) Summit 2025 in Lagos

  • 16-19 September: Africa Creative Market in Lagos.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Editorial Update: An earlier version mistakenly referenced the TikTok Creator Fund instead of the TikTok Creator Rewards Program. The Creator Fund was discontinued in 2020 and replaced by the Rewards Program.

ICYMI, this month marks one year since Communiqué became a full-fledged publication. What a journey it has been! We have achieved some pretty impressive milestones that we are proud of. (We talked about one of them in today’s digest.)

None of it would have been possible without you. We say a big thank you to everyone who has shared our work with friends, subscribed, commented, or read along. Your support has kept us going. A hearty cheer to another year of doing bigger things.

In today’s digest, we discuss

• The launch of the first-ever government-backed report on the Nigerian creator economy

• Morocco’s new cinema-focused legislation.

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Nigeria’s first creator economy report launches at GITEX Nigeria

Communiqué and TM Global have partnered with the National Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC) to launch the inaugural Nigerian Creator Economy Report 2025 at GITEX Africa. The publication provides the first data-driven analysis of one of the country’s fastest-growing sectors.

Themed “The State of the Nigerian Creator Economy: Content, Culture, and Cashflow”, the report values Nigeria’s creator economy at $31.2 million as of 2025, underscoring the country’s pivotal role in Africa’s digital creator boom. Across the continent, the sector was worth $3.08 billion in 2023 and is projected to hit $17.84 billion by 2030, growing at 28.5% annually.

“This report marks a turning point,” said David I. Adeleke, Founder & CEO of Communiqué, urging policymakers and investors to “match cultural power with economic strategy, treating creativity not as a soft export but as a key driver of growth.” Elijah Affi, Co-Founder of TM Global, added: “When policy, capital, and community align, growth becomes repeatable.”

Key findings reveal explosive growth: Nigerian artists received over ₦58 billion from Spotify in 2024, a 146% increase from 2023, while Nollywood box office revenue jumped 60% to ₦11.5 billion. Nigerian content on YouTube surpassed 20 billion annual views, with over 1,500 channels crossing the 100,000-subscriber milestone and generating over $10 million in AdSense revenue in 2024.

Yet, the report warns of a persistent monetisation gap, with 56.45% of Nigerian creators earning less than $100 a month, and just 3.23% making above $5,000—pointing to extreme income concentration at the top.

Government support is central to the sector’s rise, through programs like iDICE, the 3 Million Technical Talent initiative, and the Creative Economy Development Fund, seeded with $200 million from Afreximbank.

The Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa highlighted the importance of the report noting that “The future of Nigeria’s economy will not be written by oil and gas alone—it will be sung, filmed, painted, designed, coded, performed, and shared by our creators.” While the Director General of the NCAC, Obi Asika noted that the creative industry has been ignored for too long but the report will change that. “Today, with data in hand, we can finally measure the scale of our creative industry's global impact.”

Read the full report here.

Morocco gets new film law

A new law overhauling Morocco’s cinematic industry came into effect on Monday, September 1, 2025. The legislation is designed to attract greater domestic and foreign investment, create jobs, and raise the global visibility of Moroccan cinema.

At its core, the law reorganises the Morocco Cinematographic Centre (Centre Cinématographique Marocain, CCM). The agency is now tasked with regulating licensing in production, distribution, screening, and promoting Morocco as a leading filming hub. Other provisions include the creation of a national cinema registry, new conditions for production activities, and updated rules for importing, exporting, and screening films. The law also introduces an official “studio label” and professional accreditation cards to help standardise industry practices.

The reforms build on Morocco’s long cinematic tradition, both as a producer of local films and as a sought-after destination for foreign productions. Over the decades, the country has provided the backdrop for global hits ranging from Lawrence of Arabia to Game of Thrones. According to the CCM’s latest annual report, Morocco remains a hotspot for international productions, with foreign shoots investing around $136 million (1.24 billion MAD) in 2024, up from $125 million (1.14 billion MAD) in 2023.

The overhaul also signals the government’s intention to focus more on cinema’s role in economic development. Earlier this year, the CCM committed over $677 million to support 29 film festivals nationwide.

Crunch Time 📈

Nollywood’s distribution woes

Catch Up 📬

Communiqué is now free to read

Communiqué is entering a new growth phase as we celebrate one year since growing from a one-man Substack side hustle into a full-time publication. With this milestone, we’ve made an important decision: the paywall is coming down. We’re moving from a subscription model to a membership model. (You can read our full announcement about why we’re making this shift here).

Everything we publish; essays, reports, and analyses, will be open for everyone to read and share. So, feel free to dig through the archives, catch up on what you’ve missed, and share your favourite pieces with friends and colleagues.

And if you believe in what we’re building, you can show your support and help us grow even stronger by donating here.

Communiqué’s Subscriber of the Week 🤩

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• In Kenya, a series of court rulings threatens the stability of royalties, an important revenue source for musicians.

• Nollywood-comedy skit collaborations don’t come cheap—creators reportedly pay between ₦200,000 and ₦2 million to feature established actresses in their short-form content.

• Circuits TV has added over 80 films and series of Ugandan cinema to its bouquet. (Pair this analysis of their business model).

• Nigerian fashion designers are finding an unexpected market abroad, with young Americans turning to them for unique prom dresses.

• In the latest edition of Offscript by Communiqué, Award-winning screenwriter Nicole Asinugo shares how she pivoted from law to journalism, and then advertising, found her voice in Nollywood, and is now charting a bold new path with her own storytelling lab.

• Here is what is happening in Africa’s creative economy this weekend and next week:

  • 6 September: The second revamped and expanded edition of Africa Creator Festival holds in Johannesburg, South Africa

  • 8-10 September: A special creative economy session will be held at the Economic Society of South Africa Conference 2025 in Somerset West. Researchers from the Africa-Europe Creative Economies Cluster of Research Excellence (Africa-Europe CoRE) will present their latest work at the conference.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

In today's Digest, we discuss

• Rwanda’s continued focus on growing its sports industry.

• YouTube’s latest move to woo Nigerian filmmakers

• A report on the impact of the Nigeria Communications Commission’s interventions in the last three years.

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Rwanda’s bromance with sports grows stronger

On Monday, August 25, 2025, the Professional Fighters League announced that the four semifinal bouts of its flagship mixed martial arts (MMA) tournament, PFL Africa, will take place on October 18 at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

Hosting the event, Africa’s biggest MMA competition, adds to Rwanda’s growing reputation as a premier sports destination. Kigali’s BK Arena has staged four of the five Basketball Africa League finals since the league’s launch. The country also hosted the 2024 FIA Prize Giving ceremony, the first in Africa, and is preparing to stage the UCI Cycling World Championships. Earlier this month, Semafor reported that Rwanda had submitted a bid to host a Formula 1 race in Kigali, which would mark the sport’s return to Africa for the first time since 1993.

Using sports to power tourism and the broader economy has been central to the Kagame government’s strategy. In 2023, Rwanda hosted 59% more sporting events than the previous year, generating over $13 million. Tourism revenues are also rebounding, with visitors spending $267.71 million in the first half of 2024—an 11% increase from 2023. The model has inspired others: DR Congo recently struck sponsorship deals with Barcelona, AC Milan, and AS Monaco, echoing Rwanda’s partnerships with top European clubs.

Still, critics argue the approach amounts to “sportswashing,” raising questions about resource allocation in a developing country, particularly given Rwanda’s human rights record.

YouTube courts Nigerian filmmakers

Last weekend, YouTube hosted Nigerian TV and film producers for a one-day event in Lagos, titled TV/Film Day. The workshop was designed to help creators reach global audiences and build sustainable businesses online. Sessions focused on audience engagement, content optimisation, and global distribution strategies.

The event is the latest in a three-year run of initiatives, including YouTube for Filmmakers 2024, Celebration of Nollywood 2023, and the YouTube Black Voices Fund. These efforts reflect the company’s broader strategy to help African creators capture a bigger share of the global entertainment market.

With YouTube now a fixture on TV screens and not just mobile phones, the initiative also has strategic weight. In February, CEO Neal Mohan identified conquering the living room as one of YouTube’s four “big bets” for 2025, alongside cultural relevance, the creator economy, and AI. At the Lagos event, executives revealed that more than two million Nigerians now watch YouTube on their living room screens. Partnering with filmmakers ensures more local content to fuel that growth.

YouTube remains a default distribution and monetisation platform for Nigerian independent filmmakers. It provides revenue access, widens reach, and grows the company’s content library. Notably, YouTube executives said over 70 percent of views for Nigerian content now come from audiences outside the country, underscoring both Nollywood’s global appeal and YouTube’s role in amplifying it.

Communiqué’s report assessing the impact of the NCC’s policy and regulatory moves in the last three years

Communiqué has released a new report assessing the impact of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) policies on the telecom industry over the past three years. The report was unveiled at a webinar hosted by Communiqué on Wednesday, August 27, 2025.

The 90-minute session brought together industry leaders and journalists to review NCC’s progress and challenges. Speakers commended the Commission for its policies, which have enabled capital injection into the industry. CEO of the Institute of Governance and Economic Transformation, Evelyn Dan Epelle, praised its data-driven approach, while Royal Ibeh highlighted spectrum allocation and the rollout of over 7,000 towers. Still, participants cautioned that infrastructure gaps, high costs, and rural exclusion remain pressing concerns. Businessfront’s Head of Content, Emmanuel Paul, noted that consumer education, though improving, must reach more rural audiences.

A major issue raised was vandalism of telecom infrastructure. The chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo described it as a critical threat, increasing maintenance costs and disrupting services. He called for stronger deterrents, rapid interventions, and community involvement in protecting infrastructure.

Looking ahead, speakers urged the NCC to anticipate rather than react to challenges. They recommended context-specific solutions, such as wireless alternatives where cable theft is rampant and satellite services in remote areas. Frank Eleanya, Senior Reporter covering the Telecoms industry at TechCabal, stressed that the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) should be passed into law.

Crunch Time 📈

YouTube is the New TV for Nigerians

Catch Up 📬

Communiqué 85: Crea8torium wants to be the classroom for African creators

As content creation becomes a more aspirational and viable career path in Africa, stakeholders have been calling for greater structure and support. Salem King and Adaora Mbelu’s Crea8torium may offer just that. This week’s essay compares the project to the Colin and Samir Show in the U.S. and explores how it evolved.

Here is an excerpt for you:

“Crea8torium is still in its early days, but its ambition is clear. Where most creator-focused platforms in Africa remain scattered, temporary, or tied to corporate sponsorships, Salem King and Adaora Mbelu are building something more permanent, rooted in community. The show may have started as a series of conversations in a studio, but the bigger play is to create an ecosystem where African creators can learn from one another, share data, and begin to professionalise an industry that has long been undervalued.”

Read the full essay here.

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• Africa is the world’s fastest-growing tourism market, but its share of the global market remains very small. Chris O. Ogunmodede argues that increasing it depends on plans rooted in local realities, not just attracting Western travellers.

• A comprehensive breakdown of the state of investment in Africa's sport and creative industries.

• TV commercial and documentary director, Temitope “Oluwadabest” Dada, on how he is learning the business of creativity.

• Do you run a startup or organisation at the intersection of creativity, technology, and entrepreneurship in West Africa and beyond? Apply for the Creative Economy Challenge & Awards by D4D Hub & TechCabal to compete for a share of the $30,000 prize pool. Applications close September 3.

• Here are the events happening in Africa next week:

  • 03 – 04 September: GITEX Nigeria holds in Lagos, Nigeria

  • 04 - 10 September: Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) programme at the Intra-African Trade Fair 2025 (IATF20,25) holds in Marrakech, Morocco

  • 05 - 07 September: South Africa's largest literary event, The Open Book Festival kicks off in Cape Town

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

If you weren’t in Nairobi yesterday for Communiqué IRL, you missed out on some powerful conversations about how East Africa’s creative economy can reach its next level of growth, and the chance to connect with the brilliant minds driving the sector forward.

But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. In today’s Digest, we bring you the key takeaways from the event.

Also in this issue:

Twitch suspends monetisation for Kenyan users

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What we learnt at Communiqué IRL Nairobi

Yesterday evening, we hosted the second edition of Communiqué IRL (In Real Life), our networking and conversation series, in Nairobi. Supported by Creation Africa and Alliance Française, the event brought together leading voices in the creative economy, including, content creator Brian Kimanzi; Mark Kaigwa, Managing Director of digital services platform Nendo; Ezekiel Onyango, founder of the Pan-African Innovation Policy and Evidence Center; June Gachui, founder of JGIP Consultants; and Wangui Njoroge. The discussion explored how East Africa’s creative economy can unlock its next phase of growth through data, structure, and collaboration.

The event featured a keynote address and two panel conversations highlighting the promise of East Africa’s creative economy. But the discussion kept circling back to three missing pieces: data, structure and collaboration.

A major takeaway was the call for a structured way of collecting and interpreting data. Kenya, Kaigwa noted, is not short of data about the creative economy, but of interpretation. “We have an abundance of numbers, but they are not equally distributed and poorly understood.” Raw statistics remain meaningless without asking the “So what?” question. Brian Kimanzi added that structures must be built to help apply data in ways that support growth.

Ezekiel Onyango, noted that success lies in creating industrial policies from within. He drew comparisons with fintech and manufacturing, where sustainability comes not from government decree but from industries organising themselves. “Organising a challenge for us in the industry. We have to make our own industrial policies. The role of public policy is to supplement and protect industrial policies.”

There have already been some early successes with the industry collaborating with the government. For instance, the Kenya Film Satellite Account, a partnership between the Kenya Film Commission and the Bureau of Statistics to quantify the film industry’s contribution to GDP, showed that 70% of budgets spill into hospitality and legal services, among other industries. The project persuaded the government to allocate 900 million shillings ($7m) to film development in 2024/25, the first such funding since independence..

Another key theme was the need to talk more about the business side of creativity. June Gachui observed that the media often relegates industry stories to the entertainment pages, obscuring the fact that many practitioners are running serious businesses. This framing, she suggested, deprives the sector of investment and legitimacy. She noted that the sector needs media coverage that recognises creative enterprises as legitimate economic actors, not just entertainment curiosities.

The evening's discussions converged on a fundamental truth: East Africa’s creative economy cannot subsist on “vibes only”. It must gather reliable data, impose its own rules, and demand recognition as a business sector worthy of capital and policy support.

What’s Next

Communiqué IRL was conceived to create a space where members of our community and the wider creative sector can share stories, exchange ideas, and deepen industry relationships. Last night showed just how necessary these conversations are, and we’re committed to keeping them going.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and made the evening what it was. For those who couldn’t make it, don’t worry, another edition is already in the works. Subscribe and follow us on social media to stay updated on when and where it will happen.

Twitch suspends monetisation in Kenya

Starting September 30, 2025, Kenyan Twitch users won’t be able to monetise their channels anymore. The video streaming platform stated that it is suspending its Partner and Affiliate programs in the country due to recent government policies.

While Twitch did not specify which policies were responsible, the country’s 2024 Tax Law Amendment Bill and the Finance Bill’s provisions on Digital and Non-Resident Platforms taxes have been fingered as likely factors. Industry analyst and investor Marie Lora-Mungai noted that these regulations may have directly influenced the company’s decision because of the increased compliance demands, new direct taxes, and probable requirements for platforms to act as withholding agents for creator payments.

Streamers typically monetise channels through subscriptions, where viewers pay monthly for perks, or via Bits, the platform’s virtual currency that converts to earnings, and ad revenue sharing. With the suspension, Kenyan streamers will no longer have access to these revenue streams. However, Twitch clarified that creators can continue streaming but will not receive payouts directly from the platform.

With this development, only alternative monetisation avenues like third-party donations, sponsorships, merchandise sales, and affiliate links are available for Kenyan users.

Twitch, best known as the preferred platform for gaming content, has been steadily gaining traction in Kenya, particularly due to the country's boom in eSports. The suspension is, therefore, a setback for local streamers. Some stakeholders argue, however, that Twitch’s audience in Kenya is still relatively small compared to platforms such as TikTok, which dominates the content space. Nonetheless, the development has heightened concerns about the broader future of Kenya’s digital economy.

Crunch Time 📈

Ghana vs Multichoice Saga continues

Catch Up 📬

The truth behind Mediamax's culture of job cuts

Kenya’s media company Mediamax announced another round of layoffs in July, its sixth in just four years, sparking outrage across the industry. How did a company that once promised to challenge the status quo and offer something fresh end up with such an ugly reputation, struggling merely to stay alive?

The media business is already unforgiving: survival demands resilience, capital, and constant adaptation. But in Mediamax’s case, something else is at play.

This week’s Communiqué essay traces how the company’s decisions, more than market pressures alone, pushed it into this cycle of decline and mass retrenchments.

Read the full essay here.

Communiqué’s Subscriber of the Week 🤩

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• How the talent management agency managing Nigeria’s top creators came to be (Pair it with a breakdown of its business model in Communiqué 65)

• “Creators need degrees, too." Here is an argument for creators to get professional degrees, even if it is not required to go viral.

• George Gachara, HEVA Fund’s founding partner and board chair, reflects on building East Africa’s largest creative industry investment vehicle, saying the Fund grew out of their desire to figure out a way to do creative work sustainably.

• Here are the events happening in Africa next week:

  • 20 – 23 August: Ghana International Book Fair holds in Accra, Ghana

  • 26 – 30 August: The Music Imbizo 2025 holds in Durban, South Africa

  • 27 – 29 August: Tourism Investment Forum Africa (TIFA) holds in Richards Bay, South Africa

  • 28 – 30 August: African Creative Alliance (ACA)’s hosts its first-ever annual gathering in Kigali, Rwanda.

• Explore more of Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

In today's digest, we discussed:

• The quiet leadership reshuffle at Nigeria’s state broadcaster

• The issues facing DStv’s foray into podcasts in South Africa

• How Nigeria’s creative industries can reach their true potential.

Centre Spread 🗞️

NTA gets a new boss

The Nigerian Presidency has once again reshuffled the executive board of its state broadcaster, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

On Thursday, 14 August, local media reported that four new executives had been appointed to the board. Media executive Rotimi Richard Pedro will be the new director general, replacing Salihu Abdulhamid Dembos. Other appointments included Karimah Bello as Executive Director of Marketing, Stella Din-Jacob as Executive Director of News, and Sophia Issa Mohammed as Managing Director of NTA Enterprises Limited.

This marks the second reshuffle in less than a year; the last was in September 2024, when seven members were appointed. These leadership changes aim to actualise the Federal Government’s goal of modernising the broadcaster and repositioning it in an increasingly competitive media market.

In Communiqué 74, we examined the broadcaster's attempt to reclaim its position as the “king” of television storytelling. A key argument noted was that “Legacy institutions can be revived with the right talent.” The latest hires seem to reinforce that observation.

Until three days ago, Din-Jacob was Director of News and Editor-in-Chief of the private TV station, TVC. Meanwhile, Richard Pedro brings nearly three decades of experience in broadcasting and sports rights management at various broadcasters in Africa, the UK, and the Middle East.

His career includes leadership roles at Bloomberg Television Africa and Rapid Blue Format, as well as consultancy work for FIFA, UEFA, Fremantle Media, and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB), where he played a key role in securing exclusive pan-African free-to-air media rights for all CAF competitions. He is also the founder of Optima Sports Management International (OSMI), which he built into one of Africa’s top sports content providers, distributing premium events such as the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, and CAF competitions to audiences in more than 40 countries.

With these changes, the Nigerian government is banking on the experience and expertise of the new appointees in specific areas; news coverage, marketing strategy, content production, and commercial operations. The challenge, however, will be in translating leadership shifts into tangible results in programming, production standards, and audience engagement, especially in a rapidly evolving media landscape.

DStv’s podcast experiment hit early bumps

When MultiChoice South Africa’s DStv announced in March 2025 that it would air eight locally produced podcasts on its channels, the move was pitched as a way to inject fresh content into its entertainment slate.

Big-name shows such as Macgyver "MacG" Mukwevho’s Podcast and Chill were to be aired on its Mzansi Magic channel and serve as a bold merger of digital free-form conversation and traditional TV reach.

The decision made strategic sense: South Africa is home to one of the continent’s largest and fastest-growing podcast audiences, with a strong appetite for local voices and long-form, personality-driven content.

But five months later, the experiment is running into headwinds. Two of the eight shows have already been pulled: Podcast and Chill in May and Open Chats in August. Both shows were plagued by issues ranging from “ethical misconduct” to racially insensitive remarks and even personal feuds spilling into the public domain. While some offending content aired on YouTube rather than DStv, the platform has nonetheless borne the reputational fallout.

The incidents have also revived debate over whether podcasts in South Africa should be regulated, with some arguing that a framework is needed to prevent hate speech, defamation, and other harmful content from slipping through under the banner of “free expression.”

Meanwhile, DStv has tried to frame the changes as routine programming adjustments, pointing to “season endings” and the introduction of fresh content. However, when two high-profile cancellations happen within months, there may be deeper underlying issues.

Podcasts thrive on informality, spontaneity, and sometimes provocation. Linear television requires stricter editorial oversight and content safeguards, especially on a premium broadcaster like DStv. Attempting to merge the two creates a constant friction; the very unpredictability that makes podcasts compelling is what makes them a liability on broadcast TV.

The broadcaster has not said outright what it will do next, but it will be sure to maintain tighter rules to limit reputational damage, even if that blunts the raw appeal that drew it to podcasts in the first place.

Nigeria's creative industries need reliable data and collaboration to reach their true potential.

Nigeria’s creative industry is globally visible and a significant economic contributor. However, much of its potential outside of film and TV remains untapped. This was the focus at the inaugural QEDNG Creative Powerhouse Summit in Lagos on 12 August, where conversations centred on four pillars: data, capital deployment, infrastructure, and collaboration.

Dr. Nkiru Balonwu of African Soft Power Group stressed the need to build interconnected ecosystems rather than celebrate isolated successes. SO&U’s Group MD, Udeme Ufor highlighted the lack of reliable data to guide decisions and measure impact in the industry. Other speakers agreed that funding remains a challenge. All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) founder Mike Dada and The Temple Company’s Yemisi Falaye noted that helping banks and other financial institutions understand the sector and proving talent’s marketability could unlock traditional financing.

The summit’s conversations echo a position Communiqué has long advocated: building a thriving creative economy in Africa requires localised solutions, a commitment to infrastructural development, and stronger ecosystems. Next Thursday, August 21, we will take this conversation to East Africa. Communiqué IRL will gather creators, investors, and policymakers in Nairobi to explore how data and collaboration are essential to unlocking growth. Reserve your seats now, spaces are limited.

Crunch Time 📈

Competitive gaming in Nigeria is becoming mainstream

Catch Up 📬

From WhatsApp group to music powerhouse: The WeTalkSound story

WeTalkSound is one of the few fully integrated Nigerian music companies operating today. It can manage the journey of taking an artist from idea to the global stage. But it didn’t start out that way.

This week’s Communiqué essay chronicles its humble, if somewhat random, beginning as a WhatsApp group and how its founder, Dolapo Amusat, is working to build it into a media juggernaut in the mould of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.

Here is an excerpt for you:

“Building a business began with Amusat deciding that being a part of conversations in the music industry wasn't enough; the community needed a media platform to shape conversations. “Media exists for different reasons, and one of them is to push agendas.” If WeTalkSound was going to be influential in Nigeria’s music ecosystem, it had to be able to create its own narratives. So, they built out an in-house publication and content team to create stories, interviews, and cultural commentary on the Nigerian music industry.”

Read the full essay here.

Communiqué’s Subscriber of the Week 🤩

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• Critically acclaimed Nigerian filmmaker Niyi Akinmolayan proposes a cheaper way to bring people to cinemas: offer ad-supported screenings.

• Advertising and PR companies are leaning hard into the creator economy to futureproof themselves: “Across global markets, many agencies are recruiting content creators (often influencers, TikTokers and YouTubers) as full-time staff.”

• So far, the career trajectory of the Managing Director of Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), Ojoma Ochai, has been about preparing for the future and being lucky enough to act when it is right.

• Explore Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Hello there,

ICYMI — the first edition of our new editorial series, Offscript, is landing in your inbox this Sunday (yay!). We announced it last week, but now’s the perfect time to add it to your weekend reading list if it slipped through the cracks.

Now, to today’s digest, here is what we discussed:

• Multichoice's latest regulatory woes in Ghana

• Egypt’s pushback on TikTok and demands to uphold local cultural norms

Centre Spread 🗞️

MultiChoice risks DStv shutdown in Ghana over price hike dispute

Ghana's National Communications Authority (NCA) has issued a formal notice to MultiChoice Ghana, signalling its intent to suspend its broadcasting licenses following a protracted pricing dispute.

This development comes at the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum the country’s Minister of Communication, Samuel Nartey George, gave the company on August 1 last week to slash prices by 30% or face regulatory action.

The company and government have been in dispute since it hiked the price of Premium access to DStv by 15% in April. George called the hike unjustified and insists that Ghanaians are charged more than consumers in other African markets. He also argued that the increase came when the cedi was appreciating significantly.

MultiChoice rejected this demand, calling it “not tenable” given Ghana’s broader economic volatility. It noted that though the cedi may have recently appreciated, it has lost more than 200% of its value over the past eight years, thus making sustainable pricing a challenge.

With the NCA’s notice now in effect, MultiChoice has 30 days to explain why the suspension should not proceed. If enforced, the action would severely disrupt access to popular satellite TV services for thousands of subscribers nationwide.

Meanwhile, MultiChoice is under pressure to stay profitable, especially after underwhelming Q1 earnings. In addition to Ghana, it has introduced price hikes in four of its 13 African markets this year alone. The company says the hikes are necessary and it is trying to keep prices “as low as possible” nonetheless. However, governments and consumers disagree.

In Nigeria, the company is already in court with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) over a March price hike that defied regulatory orders. That case has now escalated to the Court of Appeal.

Ghana's NCA says its actions aim to protect consumers from exploitative practices. MultiChoice Ghana has yet to issue a formal response, but it had reportedly told its employees earlier on Friday, August 1, that it is taking steps to resolve the issue and prevent the suspension of its broadcasting licence.

Egypt demands stricter content regulations and monitoring from TikTok

In Egypt, content creators are bracing for stricter regulations on TikTok, as authorities move to clamp down on posts deemed immoral or socially inappropriate. Ahmed Badawi, a House of Representatives’ Telecommunications Committee member, announced on Friday, August 1, that TikTok has been given a three-month deadline to align its content with Egyptian social and moral standards.

Badawi noted that the deadline was set after a meeting last month between the CEO of TikTok Egypt and North Africa, the head of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), and members of the parliamentary committee.

Egypt has a history of policing online content. In 2020, local police arrested two young women posting dance videos on TikTok, accusing them of promoting inappropriate behaviour. However, the new push for regulation comes amid a fresh wave of arrests. At least eight TikTok content creators have been detained over the past week on charges including “indecency.” Authorities allege that the creators’ videos featured obscene language, violated public morals, and represented a misuse of social media. The arrests reportedly followed a complaint filed by 32 lawyers, who argued the videos "posed a danger to young people."

This development comes as TikTok works hard to solidify its reach on the continent. Egypt reportedly had the most users in Africa, with 32 million as of September 2024. The platform will try to avoid the legal and political troubles it faces in the U.S., where it has come under intense scrutiny over data privacy and national security. It is engaging with regulators and adapting its content policies to reflect local cultural norms. This strategy may be key to preserving market access in one of its most important African markets.

Badawi emphasised that authorities won’t rush to ban the app, but that tighter regulation is necessary and legal. He added that the committee actively monitors TikTok content and is prepared to intervene if violations persist.

Crunch Time 📈

TikTok is huge in Egypt

Catch Up 📬

What needs to be true for Inkblot’s and Filmhouse’s Kava to succeed?

With Kava, Filmhouse, Nigeria’s biggest cinema chain and Inkblot, one of its leading studios, are attempting to proffer a new solution to Nollywood’s distribution challenge. Though their approach is unique for the local market, it is not untested globally; similar models have worked elsewhere. So all eyes are on its debut, expected later this August, and beneath the excitement lies a question many are quietly asking (or avoiding altogether): will it succeed?

This week’s Communiqué essay examines what needs to happen for Kava’s success to be more than a hopeful bet.

Here’s an excerpt for you:

“But beyond the content, a key ingredient for the success of a niche Nollywood streaming platform is community. It’s not enough to stream great content. To truly thrive for Kava—or any Nollywood-focused platform—it must become the digital town square for Nollywood fans worldwide.”

Read the full essay here.

Communiqué’s Subscriber of the Week 🤩

Join us in Kigali for the Africa Creatives Alliance Annual Gathering 2025

We’re excited to invite you to the Africa Creatives Alliance Annual Gathering, which will take place August 28–31, 2025, in Kigali, Rwanda.

The Africa Creatives Alliance, launched in partnership with the African Union in 2024, is building a stronger ecosystem for Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). This gathering is a key part of that mission.

The event will bring together over 200 artists, filmmakers, designers, marketers, policymakers, investors, and industry leaders from across the continent and beyond. Expect powerful conversations on AfCFTA, investment in the creative economy, intellectual property rights, and more.

Whether you're a creative, policymaker, or operator, this is an unmissable opportunity to engage with a growing Pan-African network shaping the future of the continent’s creative industries.

Save the date, and come be part of the movement.

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• How a $2 million Nigerian animation film was built from scratch.

• The Nigerian government opened applications for the second phase of its Creative Economy Development Fund program.

• Kampala Writes Litfest kicks off on Friday, August 15, in Kampala.

• Explore Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Hello there!

And to our Kenyan folks, Mhali gani? I come bearing good news: Communiqué IRL is coming to Nairobi!

Join us on Thursday, August 21, 2025, at Alliance Française (6PM EAT) for an evening of curated conversations, connections, and insights into East Africa’s growing creative economy. Expect to hear from Brian Kimanzi, Mars Maasai (HEVA Fund), Ezekiel ‘Ezy’ Onyango (PAIPEC-CCI), Wangui Njoroge, and more.

I bet you leave recharged for the work you do to advance the creative economy. We saved you a seat here. Remember to bring a friend or colleague.

Now, to today’s digest. We discuss

• Circuit's new offering and how it offers insights into the distribution issues plaguing Nollywood.

• Helios’s $75M bet on Africa’s sport and entertainment industries.

Centre Spread 🗞️

Circuits’ Pay-Per-View play and the Nollywood distribution riddle

Nigerian streaming platform Circuits is expanding its offerings to deepen user engagement and carve out a niche in Nigeria’s evolving film distribution landscape.

Earlier this month, the platform introduced FlexiWatch, a new streaming bundle that allows users to rent curated selections of African films for a limited period, without requiring a subscription. On Tuesday, July 29, 2025, Circuits announced a seven-day free access period to promote the offering.

When it launched in December 2024, Circuits positioned itself as an alternative to the dominant subscription-based model with its pay-as-you-watch system. Users could rent premium Nollywood and pan-African titles individually, typically priced between ₦1,000 and ₦3,500 per film, depending on the release type and format.

FlexiWatch represents another iteration of that model. The platform describes it as an “eat all you can” experience, and offers genre or theme-based bundles with 7-day or 21-day access windows. According to COO Imade Bibowei-Osuobeni, the bundle was developed in response to user demand for affordability and control.

This move comes amid a broader recalibration in Nigerian film distribution, triggered partly by global platforms pulling back. The vacuum has prompted a wave of indigenous experiments, many of which are still trying to define viable business models. A recent WhatKeptMeUp article documented a growing number of such ventures adapting their strategies to local market realities.

The new streaming platforms entering the space—such as Inkblot and FilmHouse’s upcoming Kava (slated for August), and Mo Abudu’s EbonylifeON+ (expected in Q4 2025)—would likely opt for conventional subscription systems. Yet, given the revenue constraints international streamers faced locally, there’s scepticism about whether these models can thrive without a strong diaspora audience base.

While it remains unclear how successful Circuit’s original pay-per-view model has been, FlexiWatch offers another interesting way to test what Nigerians will pay for and how. Fusion Intelligence’s community cinema project is another experiment in building a new distribution model for Nollywood.

However, the big question still remains: Can these new models achieve real traction with domestic audiences?

Helios doubles down on Africa’s creative industries with $75 million fund

The Sports and Entertainment Group (HSEG) of London-based private equity firm, Helios Investment Partners, has announced a new $75 million fund to expand its bets in Africa's creative economy.

The group, which already backed several sports projects on the continent, is now doubling down with support from the International Finance Corporation and Proparco, a part of the Agence Française de Dévelopment Group. IFC will contribute up to $30 million, and Proparco is adding up to $20 million.

Helios's creative bet started with its 2021 investment in NBA Africa and has since extended to other ventures like the Professional Fighters League (PFL), The Malachite Group, and Zaria Group.

The new fund will continue to invest in media rights, sports IP, and live events. But notably, it expands the scope to include physical infrastructure like arenas, hotels, and multi-use venues. Zaria Group's launch of its first mixed-use facility, Zaria Court, in Kigali this week, on July 28, 2025, offers a glimpse of the new direction. The facility, which is valued at $26 million, includes a boutique hotel, event spaces, and public sports facilities.

Helios's move adds to the growing list of investment firms betting on Africa's media and creative industries, including Sony Ventures and the International Finance Corporation.

Crunch Time 📈

Mobile gaming reigns supreme in Africa

Catch Up 📬

Creators, founders, and the next chapter of Africa’s creative economy

Creators can be said to be building a business of their fame, but if they use that leverage to sell real products, what would it look like, particularly in Africa? That’s the question the latest Communiqué essay poses and tries to answer. Here is an excerpt for you:

“The continent’s most trusted voices are no longer just building audiences; they’re building businesses. And in doing so, they’re reshaping what entrepreneurship, branding, and product–market fit can look like in Africa. As the lines blur between creator and founder, the most valuable commodity won’t just be attention, but the products creators build with it and the businesses they build around those products.”

Read the full essay here.

Communiqué’s Subscriber of the Week 🤩

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• Gamr wants to build Africa’s first gaming unicorn. Since its launch, over 400,000 gamers from 18 countries have competed in over 2,000 tournaments it hosted.

• Why the creative economy must be central not just to Johannesburg and Gauteng’s development frameworks, but to how those frameworks are executed.

• Compared to the rest of the world, the audio format is still the dominant way Africans get information. Radio Workshop wants to help shape Nigeria’s next generation of audio storytellers, one well-crafted documentary at a time.

• Multipolitan’s new report, Tax Generation 2025, offers three indices showing where global wealth is moving, and why African entrepreneurs should pay attention.

• Wamide Animashaun says a personal brand isn’t about being loud. It’s about being clear

• Bella Naija is hiring for three associate roles in its editorial, style, and weddings content departments.

• Explore Africa’s creative economy in one place. Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database tracks 1,000+ companies, events, investors, and government actors across the continent.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.

Hello there!

In today’s digest, we discuss

• Nollywood's latest indigenous streamer

• Paramount Global’s potential shutdown of its Africa operations

Centre Spread 🗞️

Inkblot and Filmhouse launch a new streaming platform.

Nollywood powerhouses Inkblot Studios and Filmhouse Group have announced the launch of Kava, a global streaming platform exclusively dedicated to Nollywood and African stories. The platform is scheduled to go live in late August 2025 with over 30 premium titles, including Alakada Bad and Boujee, Owambe Thieves, What About Us, and House Job. New films will be added weekly, and the platform has plans for original content.

Kava enters the market at a pivotal moment. With global streamers like Amazon Prime and Netflix scaling back original commissions and operations in Nigeria, local producers are filling the void. In December 2024, Circuits TV, a streaming platform that described itself as “Africa’s first virtual cinema,” launched. Earlier this month, media mogul Mo Abudu launched EbonyLife On Plus, her second attempt at a streaming platform. Kava is also Filmhouse's second attempt at a streaming platform.

However, as local streaming platforms proliferate and the demand for African content continues to grow, especially among diaspora audiences, the real challenge lies in figuring out the economics of streaming in Nigeria. How do you build a sustainable platform that can actually fund quality filmmaking, effectively distribute those films globally, and still somehow manage to turn a profit, or at least not sustain any losses?

This new crop of indigenous streamers are targeted at Nigerians in the diaspora, but even that might not be enough. According to tech industry analyst Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega, the winners in this new streaming race will “run a multi‑exit flywheel: cinema weekend → SVOD window → airline deals → YouTube → brand integrations. The pure-play SVOD dream is probably dead.”

Still, Kava’s backers are optimistic. “Kava is more than a streaming service. It’s a bold new chapter for Nollywood, designed to meet the growing demand for premium, authentic African content and to redefine how the world experiences our stories,” Kava co-CEO and Filmhouse Group chief said to Deadline. But only time will tell if Kava will survive the market where other streamers have gone to die.

Paramount Global may shut down operations in Africa

Paramount Global’s offices in Nigeria and South Africa and its portfolio of 10 television channels may be shuttered soon.

According to an internal memo seen by The Hollywood Reporter, the company’s regional executives informed staff that an ongoing business restructuring is prompting a reevaluation of its international pay-TV strategy and local cable TV portfolio.

The U.S.-based media company employs around 100 people across its offices in Johannesburg (South Africa) and Lagos (Nigeria). Its operations on the continent span content production and distribution, including popular series such as the East African drama MTV Shuga, reality shows like Unstoppable Thabooty, and the local adaptation of the global franchise Love & Hip Hop: South Africa. It also hosts major live events such as MTV Base Day. Its cable TV channels, featured prominently on the continent’s largest pay-TV service, DStv, have reached over 100 million viewers across 52 African countries. The portfolio includes BET, Comedy Central, MTV, MTV Base, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., NickToons, and VH1 Classic.

The media giant cut 18.5% of its U.S. workforce last year. In June, when the latest layoff occurred, the company’s top executives suggested that further cuts could extend to international offices as the company focuses on business areas and regions with stronger prospects for revenue growth.

This potential retreat by Paramount contrasts sharply with the recent expansion moves by other global media companies, which are doubling down on Africa as a critical growth market and creative hub for content with international appeal.

There might be a bright side. Paramount is on the verge of a change in ownership, pending US regulators' approval of an $8 billion acquisition deal. If approved, the deal could significantly reshape Paramount Global’s international strategy, depending on the direction taken by the new owners. But for now, the reality is that its 20-year stay on the continent might soon end.

Crunch Time 📈

PayTV is Africa’s top viewing choice for live sports

Catch Up 📬

Fusion Intelligence wants to revive community cinemas in Nigeria

Nigerian filmmakers face serious challenges reaching audiences and earning from their work. Cinema-going isn’t mainstream, the DVD market is dead, and while piracy undermines potential revenue, streaming is an option, with fewer incentives to go to the cinema, audiences often turn to pirated copies, leaving filmmakers with limited returns.

The latest Communiqué essay explores how Fusion Intelligence is trying to establish community cinemas as another alternative for filmmakers seeking new ways to distribute their work, making moviegoing more affordable for everyday Nigerians.

Read the essay here.

Communiqué’s Subscriber of the Week 🤩

Curiosity Cabinet 🗄️

• After granting conditional approval for the Canal+ acquisition of Multichoice in May, South Africa’s competition tribunal gave final approval on Wednesday, subject to agreed-upon conditions. (Pair with our breakdown of what this acquisition means for the DStv operator here and here).

• Iyadunni Gbadebo, Eko Hotel and Suites Director of Sales and Marketing, claims that the focus on Lagos alone hampered Nigeria's creative economy.

• Spotify continues its push into African artist development with its latest RADAR Africa picks: FOLA from Nigeria and Thakzin from South Africa (Read more about our analysis of the company’s playbook in Communiqué 56)

• How Theo Rutstein sold South Africans TVs before the country even had a television broadcast service, and went on to build a media empire.

• In 2024, South Africa’s mobile operators generated nearly $9 billion (R160 billion) in revenue from subscribers’ social media usage.

• Explore the 1000+ companies, events, investors, and government stakeholders shaping Africa’s creative economy via Communiqué’s African Creative Economy Database.

That’s it for this week’s Digest. See you next week.