Zee Africa announces plans to produce Hausa, Yoruba contents in Nigeria

Zee Africa has announced plans to produce contents in Hausa and Yoruba languages as part of the media company’s focus for Nigeria in 2022.

This was made known by the Chief Executive Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, Somnath Malakar, during the partners’ meet session in Lagos.

“Going forward, Zee World intends to have content close to viewers’ hearts in Hausa and Yoruba very soon. Currently, Zee is present in over 160 countries across the world. Again, Zee recently had a merger with Sony, and the two entities will finally merge in five months. This will see Zee Kids coming alive with new content. Also, with our focus on key markets as Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Angola, we look forward to engaging through a multi-platform approach to have our channels on pay and free to air TV,” Malakar said.

Malakar and his team took turns to unveil Zee Africa’s plans for the Nigerian television audience in 2022.

But during his presentation, Malakar praised the Chief Executive Officer of Deep Vision Legacy, Mr. Ejiro Okene, for his company’s diligence and efforts in making the Zee brand a household name in Nigeria.

“I strongly believe we at Zee Africa couldn’t have done it without the support of the individuals present at this partners meet session – most especially Ejiro Okene of Deep Vision Legacy – for the support and taking charge of the brand from where we were in 2018 to where we are at the moment. The teams have worked hard to get the Zee brand to exactly where it is at the moment,” Malakar said.

In his response, Okene thanked the management of Zee Africa for believing in Deep Vision Legacy’s abilities saying the media company would not relent in taking the brand to higher grounds.

“As a media marketing agency, we are focused on product and its market. We did our research and concluded that Zee Africa is a brand worthy to market and there’s a waiting market for the brand. So, it was cool for us to go to work and ensure the market gets all the brand can offer,” Okene said.

Continuing, Okene revealed how the launch of Zee One channel has been accepted by Nigerian audiences to become one of the top 20 stations after it berthed on StarTimes.

“When I had a meeting with Malakar and his team in Johannesburg ahead of the launch of Zee One, they told me we needed to launch almost immediately and I wondered how possible but they were certain that with us behind the brand it is a possibility and that was how we got to work and Zee One berthed on StarTimes. I can tell you that as of today Zee One stands as one of the top 20 stations with a large audience and viewership on StarTimes since it launched. This proves that the brand is marketable and the audience is ready to accept it,” he said.

Also speaking, Tunde Aina, Chief Operating Officer, StarTimes Nigeria, said ZeeOne quickly gained massive viewership within a few months of berthing on StarTimes.

Malakar revealed that Zee TV Africa which includes Zee world, Zee One, Zee Magic amongst other offerings grew 3.7% in the last two years while Zee World currently occupies the number one spot for 35 months in pay-TV viewership in Nigeria.

“Our aim and focus are to maintain number one. The company intends to invest more and to this end, we will be having two local productions for Zee World in Nigeria. This is the first time. Hopefully, we will also run a Zee One production soon.”

Malakar also revealed that the highly successful dance show, Dance Africa Dance, will be having a Nigerian version before the end of 2022. He said the Nigerian version will be tagged Dance Nigeria Dance.

“We plan to have Dance Nigeria Dance in Nigeria while possibly starting a Zee Naija channel. The Dance Nigeria Dance will occur two months from March 2022. We also believe that as a media company, our channels must evolve as a partner for brand solutions rather than just a platform for entertainment. Zee will be critical to providing multiple qualitative options of engagements apart from inky quantitative matrices of reach. To this end, Zee is developing a kids programme for a brand and will run for 13 episodes. The programme will be shot in Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Abuja with 27 schools across Nigeria. We are doing all these because Zee Africa wants to be the number one commercially creative content company in Africa,” Malakar said.