ABN Holdings
ABN Holdings Limited (ABN) is a commercial television company operating in sub Saharan Africa.
What it does
ABN purchases good quality entertainment television content from major studios in the US and then arranges for these programmes to be broadcast in Africa via the free to air broadcasters in Africa.
ABN establishes a collaborative working arrangement with the public and commercial broadcasters whereby the broadcasters give ABN advertising airtime in exchange for good quality programmes and for a negotiated share of the advertising revenue. ABN is able, through its UK based procurement arm, to acquire programmes on a pan African basis which results in a lower country by country base cost than can be achieved by the individual broadcasters in Africa.
How it works
ABN operates through its regional offices in Africa to sell advertising locally and operates through its London offices to sell advertising internationally. ABN carefully packages its programmes with ABN branding. The basic model works and is beneficial for broadcasters, advertisers and the viewing public. This collaborative broadcasting template is replicated in other sub-Saharan African countries and thereby gives ABN a “virtual” pan African broadcasting network with little or no investment in broadcasting. This facility is of particular interest to those organisations including APBF which want to deliver corporate responsibility messages.
Why the synergy will work
ABN has established a strong brand presence and audience loyalty amongst millions of viewers across Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, it is able to provide an effective delivery platform for APBF and assist the latter in meeting its broadcasting and information dissemination objectives.