Technology and Digital Media in Kenya and Africa
I have just seen the above new Nike/Tiger Woods YouTube Ad that was released a couple of days ago online in anticipation of Tiger’s return to competitive golfing at this weekend’s Masters. This follows an almost 6 months hiatus whereby Tiger extricated himself from the game after shocking revelations of his numerous extramarital affairs late last year. Prior to the scandal, Tiger was what could only be described as “squeaky clean” and proverbial “perfection” for lots of big spending brand sponsors. I must admit, its a very gutsy move on the part of Nike to have delivered an Ad that is both thought provoking and “real” by using his deceased Father’s voice that ends with him starkly asking Tiger, “…and did you learn anything?”.
There are three things I love about this new Nike/Tiger Woods Ad. First, it was released first online on YouTube ensuring that it reached the widest possible audience, worldwide. Secondly, Nike has shown that they will stand by Tiger all the way, through thick and thin so to speak, even as other sponsors ditched Tiger in droves, at the first sign of trouble. Lastly, Nike and Tiger are playing the “remorse” card showing that people, and even heroes, often do mess up and need a second to chance to regain their footing. In all of these cases, both Nike and Tiger are showing that the old rules of playing it “safe” and “perfect” no longer apply in real world – things that can go wrong do go wrong but it does not mean the end of a partnership that works. I reckon the TV ad will resonate with lots of folks this weekend as we watch Tiger prowl once again at the Masters!
In the news today, Kenya has launched digital television (DTV) broadcasting through the national broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). This is a landmark event since the full switch over from analogue TV to DTV is expected to be completed by June 2012 in Kenya. DTV will go live in Nairobi on KBC from today and is expected to be available throughout most of Kenya’s major towns and cities in time for the FIFA 2010 World Cup next year. Owners of analogue televisions will be required to acquire digital TV set-top boxes so as to access the DTV signals.
According to Wikipedia, DTV has several advantages over analogue TV, the most significant being that digital channels take up less bandwidth, and the bandwidth needs are continuously variable, at a corresponding reduction in image quality depending on the level of compression as well as the resolution of the transmitted image. This means that digital broadcasters can provide more digital channels in the same space, provide high-definition television service, or provide other non-television services such as multimedia or interactivity. DTV also permits special services such as multiplexing (more than one program on the same channel), electronic program guides and additional languages (spoken or subtitled). The sale of non-television services may provide an additional revenue source.
It has been reported in the media this week that Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile network and Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone company have announced a strategic partnership for the distribution of DSTV mobile. Nokia has just launched a range of mobile tv compatible phones which will have free access for one year to the Safaricom powered DSTV mobile service when purchased. DSTV mobile is a service from DSTV, Africa’s leading digital satellite tv service which has been distributed in Kenya exclusively by Safaricom since last year. DSTV mobile is currently operational in South Africa (testing), Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and Ghana and runs on the DVB-H mobile broadcasting technology.