The potential for explosive growth and expansion for digital news content and consumption across the African continent is evident in the journey of Channels Television, as told by Simon Ejembi, who leads the media brand’s digital vertical. 

During INMA’s recent Africa Media Revenue Summit, Ejembi shared the history of the award-winning TV broadcast company, as well as its current and future successes and aspirations in digital as a brand rooted in television. 

Humble TV beginnings

Channels Television Nigeria, also known as Channels TV, was founded in the 1990s by two veteran broadcasters, with its first licensed TV station broadcasting news in 1995. 

The single TV station has since grown into a network of stations and is regarded as one of the top news media organisations within the country and internationally. The company has a far-reaching presence spanning the African continent, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.

A pillar of Channels Television Nigeria is its excellence in journalism and its roots in ethical journalism.

An official Web site was launched in 2000. In 2011, the network started 24-hour live broadcasting and established a YouTube channel. 

In the decade-plus following its round-the-clock broadcasting, Channel Television joined Twitter (now X), TikTok, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The impetus for developing their social media presence was “the need to get content to the audience wherever they are; and that is based on audience insight, which enabled us to realize that the audience was increasingly moving to these new platforms,” Ejembi said.

Ejembi highlighted the importance of the audience — from where they get their information to understanding their needs.

From TV to digital in Nigeria 

With growth and the adoption of newer technologies came more responsibility, strategy, and operational changes acknowledged Ejembi. 

Digital expansion for a brand with a long-standing television required required areas of focus including:

1. Audience-first mindset: Ejembi maintained that Channels Television is and remains an audience-first organisation from its early days of excellence in broadcasting as well as quality reporting. That mindset continues in the forms of personalised news feeds, push alerts, and interactive engagement tools. 

2. Data-driven insights: The company utilises data to inform its decision-making. “You have to have the people based on who you now have the opportunity to monetise and to deliver product.” 

3. Trust and transparency: From the beginning, Channel Television has focused on ethical journalism and being a credible source for its audience. With its news information and products, the desire to be true and accurate is ever important.  

Operational shifts to support a digital-first culture 

In transitioning to a digital-first approach for its content, other areas of the company needed to shift as well. 

Operationally, Ejembi detailed the nuances of changes to workflows including  training TV journalists to rethink content for online consumption.

For example, up until the 2010s, Channel Television’s YouTube content “was largely repurposing of broadcast content on the digital platform.” Instead, TV reporters were trained to “also write stories and generate content for their Web site,” Ejembi said. 

In following their audience and being open to digital, Ejembi and his team have cultivated a robust digital team — digital media journalists, social media experts, and a digital monetisation marketing and sales team.  

Monetising platform traffic

Currently, Channel Television Network has 3.7 million YouTube subscribers with 1.7 billion views, the most of any news media organisation on the continent. They also have millions of followers on X and Facebook. 

With this kind of reach, the initial monetisation began with Google advertising, with attention to display advertising on their main website with referral traffic to YouTube. To ensure ethical standards, partnerships were built to meet the necessary requirements.

“We also have sponsorship, branded content across the Web site, YouTube, social media platforms,” Ejembi said. 

In seeing how tech companies were essentially establishing themselves as content agencies, Ejembi and his team moved to do the same. The in-house digital marketing team provides Channels Television Network the opportunity to “create branded content for people ... productions, and all of that, which [is] another stream.”

Licensing is another revenue stream as the news brand has many journalists reporting throughout the country producing content that is later licensed, as well as creating partnership deals. 

Traditional advertising via TV, radio, and print continues and adverts and other content are also shared across digital platforms. 

Ejembi indicated a few ways in which the digital-first and audience-first mindsets have seen success including strengthened trust with the audience, especially with video content. Also, the creation of a sustainable multi-platform revenue model, which is important in today’s digital climate.

Key takeaways

It’s no secret the news industry must have a diversified strategy and products to survive in this current economic climate. 

“It’s also understanding the place of news to today’s audience, predominantly youth and predominantly online, using mobile phones is the fact that news is not something that they chase,” Ejembi said. “It’s something that has to be seen more as a commodity because you are competing.” 

In addition to offering great journalism, Ejembi mentioned the need to consider various formats to showcase news: “Whether it’s podcast, newsletters, branded content, display, everything as in VOD streaming … that’s Channels TV content that has also helped us to tap into the diaspora market, which is a huge market.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .