Canal+ Group has acquired a stake in Senegalese production company Marodi TV, one of the major players in the creation of series in Africa.
It’s the latest move by Canal in the African market, where it is currently bidding for the pay-TV platform MultiChoice.
Founded in 2012 with the ambition of making quality African content accessible on all media, Marodi TV is positioned as the leading producer of series in Senegal, which are also very popular with the African diaspora, with its own catalogue of over 600 hours of content.
With a community of 6 million subscribers on YouTube, Marodi TV uses digital platforms alongside local and pan-African television channels.
Its series Pod & Marichou, Maitresse D’un Homme Marié (Mistress Of A Married Man) and Karma rank among the most popular African series.
Fabrice Faux, Director of Channels and Content at Canal+International, said: “We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Marodi and to benefit from their invaluable expertise in developing our content offering. Based in Senegal, this producer benefits from an artistic, technical, linguistic, and climatic environment that is particularly conducive to audiovisual production. This investment again demonstrates our enduring commitment to growing Africa’s creative industries and our excitement and commercial optimism in its creative and media sectors.”
Over the past 5 years, Canal+ Group and Marodi have forged a strong partnership, enabling Marodi TV to broadcast its catalogue as part of Canal + Group’s channel line-up, as well as producing exclusive series with an initial broadcast on the Sunu Yeuf channel in Wolof, followed by a French-language exposure on the pan-African channel A+, both of which are available to 8 million Canal+ subscribers in Africa. Together, the two companies have co-produced a catalogue of successful series such as Emprises and Déchéances.
Serigne Massamba Ndour, CEO, Marodi TV, said: “I am delighted to have reached the end of this process with Canal+, a strategic partner with whom we have already been working for five years. This alliance will enable us to strengthen our production and broadcasting capabilities and export our model across the continent.”
Marodi TV will continue to be managed by its founder and majority shareholder, Senegalese entrepreneur Serigne Massamba Ndour, who will be able to build on Canal+’s strengths to develop the quality and depth of its catalogue (including in other languages) and expand its distribution across the continent and beyond via synergies with Canal+.
Canal+ Group, already a majority shareholder in the production companies Rok Studios in Nigeria, Plan A in Ivory Coast and ZACU Entertainment in Rwanda.
