The Media Blog: PopCentral TV is up to something important… but it hasn’t figured it out yet

You hear PopCentral and where does your mind go? They call it a destination for streaming eclectic and premium entertainment. The website looks just as pop it can get. Nicely executed. For brand identity, it’s a 10/10.

The whole point of Pop Central TV is a one-stop spot for all the local web series around. But access comes at a price. You get to subscribe to the channel or pay-per-view. About 8 dollars for the monthly subscription which amounts to over 3,000 naira with the current exchange rate. Errmm, we’re not exactly sure Nigerians are ready for that Netflix kind of vibe.

Pop Central TV is a brilliant innovation. How ready the audience is? That’s another day’s matter. Or perhaps today’s. Just that we can’t say we are too confident. For a market that’s yet to consume local content online dedicatedly. And one used to free content or illegal downloads.

The founder, Yinka Obebe is an experienced creative director, owner of Redbox Africa, an all-round creative and production company. He used to be with Nigezie, the syndicated TV show that has now grown into a cable channel on StarTimes (no, they didn’t disappear. Alongside the popular Orisun channel, they are making something of a killing on Cable). He is also a major content supplier for Tajudeen Adepetun’s Consolidated Media Associates, so he certainly knows what he is doing and has the chops to get it done. 

Pop Central TV has been around for a while though – trying to figure out how to take the lead on the next wave of digital TV content. First trying linear TV formats, entertainment shows – no major ground broken, but steady and winning.

It has finally found a niche, but it’s an expensive one. The amount of money to create exclusive web-based content. The amount of minds it needs to crack through how Nigerians will pay for that content (where even AfriNolly couldn’t break through with MTN behind it) and how to create content compelling enough that it is viral in an age where the most successful video content almost have to be viral.

The content on the site isn’t yet the type that screams – ‘I have to pay 7 bucks now’. 

So we will be watching to see if these smart guys finally figure it out – somehow. 

PS: See anything worth talking about on the ins and outs of the media business in Nigeria on TV, radio, print and online (could be news, tweets, photos, opeds etc) send us a mail on[email protected] titled TMB. Let’s share the insight together!  

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