Canal+ backs African TV dramas as European sales suffer
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Louise Duffy
| 29 October 2018

In the face of growing Chinese competition and as subscribers at home cancel contracts, Vivendi is hoping that Invisibles, the first original series produced in Africa by its pay-TV company Canal+, will help revive its fortunes.

French media giant Canal+ has lost 1.3 million individual subscribers in mainland France since 2013 due to stiff competition for rights to sports events, series from upstart rivals and the rise of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. At the same time, Canal+ has added twice as many subscribers in Africa, now its second-largest market. Rights to European and African football have long been a draw in Africa and Canal+ has also invested heavily in locally produced content.

Invisibles, set in the Ivory Coast, tells the story of a violent gang of youngsters in 10 episodes of 52 minutes. Shot mainly in open-air markets and garages in the working-class Yopougon district, the series will debut on 29 October.

"Africans want us to address them directly and not offer them programmes that reference things they don't know, just because that's what's shown in Paris," said Fabrice Faux, Canal+ International's chief content officer. "The African public wants things made by them, for them and, if possible, on site.”

Alongside Invisibles, two more African-produced series are in the works - a Senegalese police drama, Sakho & Mangane, and an action series, African Special Forces, which Canal+ is co-producing with a Moroccan station.