Samsung Video Hub successes and challenges in SA

Of the top 10 movies on Samsung’s Video Hub in South Africa, 8 are local films and 3 were in Afrikaans.

This is according to Thabiet Allie, head of content and services at Samsung Electronics Africa, who was speaking at AfricaCast 2013.

Allie said that they are trying to apply the same thinking used in putting together South Africa’s Video Hub in other territories across the continent.

In addition to offering a mix of a large catalogue of international and local content, Allie said that creating “a level of activation” is also important.

“Get people to taste something for free and then [get] them upsold from there,” he said.

Allie said that they have made a lot of content available for free on an ongoing basis and have also launched vouchers that consumers could use to buy movies at no cost to them.

Short format content also helps spread reach, Allie said.

Video Hub content will need a Samsung device for the foreseeable future

Asked whether there are plans to offer Samsung’s Video Hub across platforms, Allie said that he expected it to remain as it is for the foreseeable future.

He said that it is worth remembering that content is priced very differently on Video Hub compared to service like iTunes.

Evolving business models and competition is a great thing, Allie said.

Addressing questions of how much they pay for local content, Allie said that for the moment they are paying up-front as that’s what most of their content partners prefer.

While they don’t license content on a revenue share basis at the moment, Allie said they are quite flexible and encouraged delegates in the audience to “come up with a good model” for revenue share should they want it.