In as much as the entertainment industry requires more support from government and corporate bodies alike to attain its full potentials, we can’t deny the fact that the corporate bodies have been of tremendous support to the continuous growth of Nigeria entertainment industry.
The corporate bodies are needed to foster the growth of the industry by investing in it because the Nigerian entertainment industry is economically viable but its immense potentials have remained untapped. While we commend them for the role they have played so far in funding the industry, more is still needed to be done in the areas of big time investments such as establishing a properly structured pan Nigeria entertainment products distribution network to ward of pirates, CD replication and encoding plants which are highly capital intensive but guarantee high returns on investments. This is because projects of this magnitude cannot be singlehandedly undertaken by individuals and the very few who may have the required resources prefer the already crowded oil and gas industry.
India depends majorly on her entertainment industry and is actually generating more revenue which has come in handy as a driver of its developing economy. If we can invest in the entertainment industry, it will be a good alternative to our crude oil. Just as the corporate bodies have a vital role to play in making the entertainment industry economically viable and attractive; the government equally has a big role to play by creating an enabling environment.The industry is suffering from sponsorship of major events, distribution and Film funding.
This week, Entertainment Rave attempts to review the investments of the corporate bodies in the entertainment industry and their impacts.
GT BANK
Amongst all the Nigerian Banks, GT Bank can be rated the most supportive bank of the entertainment industry. On different occasions, the bank has supported few entertainment industry events including; D’Banj’s Koko Concert and the Thisday Music Festival. Aside supporting entertainment events once in a while, GT Bank has become endeared to all by its online platform; Ndani TV. Besides the exclusive celebrity interviews, the brand has become a favourite with the youth. Envisioned to be ‘the purveyor of Pan African taste and the #1 online destination for premium African business, entertainment and travel content’, the exclusive interviews of top entertainment celebrities presented on the platform has endeared them to lots of Nigerian youths with over 10,000,000 views on Youtube alone. What is however expected from GT Bank from lots of entertainment enthusiasts is to create direct investment by facilitating loan for entertainment entrepreneurs.
STAR
The maker of star, Nigerian Breweries is the biggest supporter of entertainment industry as far the beverage companies are concerned in Nigeria. The company launched Star Music many months as an application to be downloaded on mobile devices for latest music downloads, sharing and listening. However, the initiative is yet to record major successes because the goals were not properly defined. Loads of money has been expended on its promotion but it has not gained the desired popularity nor created the desired impact. Music buffs still prefer to go to Notjustok and other related sites to download and listen to new songs. This is simply because not all the latest songs are found on the Star Music App. For such application to have a meaningful impact, operators of Star Music App need to have an exclusive deal with major musicians for the few weeks of release. With heavy promotion, music buffs will have no option but to download the star app to listen and download new songs from their favourite Nigerian artistes. The second phase will be to monetise it having gained the necessary attention and patronage. At that stage, you can listen for free but can’t download for free. A token fee of N50 can be introduced for each download. Thus, both the artistes and Star Music will generate income from the project. If one million Nigerians download a song for N50, then these should translate to N50, 000,000.00 in cash.
Aside supporting entertainment events, Star has invested in major areas of the industry such as talent hunt contests and concerts; (Star Quest) and Star Music Trek. We can’t but remember Star Mega Jam too.
MTN
MTN is no doubt one of the biggest investors in the entertainment industry among other telecom companies. In the last few years, they have championed few courses and supported worthy initiatives. One of the company’s recent initiatives we have come to admire is the caller tunes and a full track downloads championed by the company. Under this arrangement, an artiste can make over N10M. MTN is also a major supporter of entertainment events such the Headies and sponsor of the music talent hunt contest; Project Fame which brought the likes of Iyanya, Chidinma and others to the limelight. The company has also toed the line of another telecom company, Globacom to sign different music acts such as Kcee, Davido, Wizkid, Iyanya, Chidinma, Don Jazzy, D’Prince, Tiwa Savage and Praiz as its ambassadors. MTN is currently about to discover another super star with its recent promo, Song Star. Irrespective of any short comings, the company is adding value to the entertainment industry in no small measure.
GLO
Globacom is another supporter of the entertainment industry. Even though the company is always very wary of supporting entertainment events, the management has consistently indicated its good intentions to support major entertainment events once in a while. The company sponsored the now rested Glo Naija Sings but the seemingly lack of direction for the show affected the overall result of the competition. Globacom had to pull out because the show was totally cut out from the Nigerian audience. It eventually pitched its tent with X-Factor. The winner of the X-Factor show, DJ Switch got N24m cheque as first ever winner of the show with consolation prizes for other contestants. Besides these, Globacom is the first telecom company to sign up lots of Nigerian entertainers, music and movie stars as brand ambassadors. In preserving the labour of our heroes past, Globacom has kick started a new initiative, the Evegreen series with Evangelist Ebenezer Obey as the first veteran artiste to be honoured.
Even though we would have loved the company to support some major events especially award ceremonies organized by Nigerian based entertainment outfits to further encourage and reward a larger ratio of artistes, they have no doubt added glamour and great value to the industry.
ETISALAT
Since Etisalat launched officially in Nigeria, the company has not hidden its desire to be part of the ever growing Nigerian entertainment industry. It supported Dynamix Awards then and signed Banky W as its first ambassador. Later on, the company began the sponsorship of a music talent hunt, Nigerian Idol in line with its youth oriented campaigns. ( www.eraveng.com)
Words by Seun Apara
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