Youth urged to embrace digital migration for content creation, job employment
By Steve Umidha, October 25, 2021The Kenyan youth are being urged to take advantage of digital migration – which took off in February 2015, to nurture their talents.
Kenya made the transition from analogue television broadcasting services to digital television broadcasting services more than six years ago ahead of the global deadline of June 15, 2015 in a move believed a majority of Kenyan artists are yet to fully take advantage of.
“Digital migration offers a solution to our youth who instead of complaining, should use the digital space by creating content. We have very many Television (TVs) channels today that need script writers, producers and many opportunities which creates employment,” urged the immediate former Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) Chief executive Dr Ezekiel Mutua.
He was speaking on Saturday during the launch of Testimony Television and Radio channels, held in Nairobi, challenging the youth to benchmark their content creation to Nigeria films industry – the largest in Africa.
Nollywood, as it is fondly known, is also the world’s second-largest film industry by volume behind India’s Bollywood.
Hollywood is ranked the largest major film industry in the world. In 2016, the movie industry in the United States and Canada generated $11.4 billion, making it the most profitable movie industry on the planet.
In fact, a UNESCO’s first comprehensive report about Africa’s film industry published in October, notes that the industry has been on a growth trajectory and is estimated to create over 20 million jobs and generate $20 billion in revenues per year. And yet Africa’s potential as a film production hotspot remains largely untapped.
The outlet’s founding director Prophet Fred Akama while launching the stations said such a move would go a long way in clean content creation even as the country geared towards elections – a period that is synonymous with political content.
“We are having contract conversations with artists to produce clean music, content for their media channels who based on our analytics will play a critical role on our sustainability plan in the long term,” said Akama.
Figures by the Kenya Film Commission survey tabulated in June 2020 on the Kenyan film industry;, shows that Kenya’s film industry generates slightly in excess of Sh12 billion in revenues annually, which experts say is below the country’s potential.