ALEX OKOSI

Starting off his career as a Trade Marketing coordinator at MTV, Alex Okosi’s dream has always being centered on building the African Entertainment Industry and positively changing the way it was perceived by the world - a goal he has more than successfully achieved. These days, he is responsible for managing the growth and development of Viacom International Media Networks Africa (a multichannel network that reaches over 100 million viewers and includes MTV, MTV base, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET International and Comedy Central) & BET International via his position as Executive Vice President and Managing Director.

In this interview with KONYE CHELSEA NWABOGOR, he talks about Nigeria’s win at the recent BET awards and also the power of African Entertainment. For the first time since it was introduced 10 years ago, the International Act Award recipient was recognized on the BET Awards stage and it was won by a Nigerian, how does that make you feel?

It makes me feel great to see that our vision of a re-imagined Africa has been realized. When we launched MTV Base in 2005, our mission was to show the world, through quality content and music videos, the true beauty of African music and youth culture. We did a lot of work in training and shooting free music videos for a variety of artists in Nigeria and across the continent to improve the quality. From the very beginning it was clear to me that it was the only way that Nigerian artists and their counterparts across Africa could truly bridge the international gap. The music video is a powerful marketing tool for artists. For instance, a young person in Kenya can now enjoy the music and creativity of an artist from another country versus laughing at the content due to its bad quality. Nigerian artists to their credit, responded to the quality challenge and combined it with a unique sound that is now dominating African music. I am now responsible for growing our BET brand outside the US, and to see Davido win the Best International Act Award in front of millions of viewers is an amazing feeling as it not only demonstrates the impact that international artists are having on music today, but also that Nigerian music is leading the pack. What does this mean for the average Nigerian / African Artiste?

It should definitely serve as an inspiration for the Nigerian or African artist, to know that if they put in the time and hard work into their music, just as Davido does, it can deliver great output. It also presents an opportunity to make waves not only within their home country but also internationally. I think it’s amazing to know that our contemporary African music can now travel, connect and be recognized globally. With the whole ‘’Blackanda’’ movement going on at the moment, would you say 2018 has being an exceptionally good year for black entertainment?

It’s been an amazing year for black entertainment for sure. Our African music is traveling the world through artists such as Davido and Wizkid. Also, the movie Black Panther definitely helped to redefine the narrative around black culture with its amazing box office performance and multiple awards. And finally, one of the biggest award shows in the world, The BET Awards, recognized Davido as the Best International Act. The list of great things that have happened around black entertainment in 2018 is quite long and these are some of the major ones. What do you project going forward?

I believe that this year serves as a major step change; the positive influence that African and black culture has on the world has been truly embraced

and celebrated not only within the music and entertainment space but in other important spheres such as technology.

I believe that our young people will make bigger contributions in the technology space, which will also serve to uplift our continent and the world. It’s not a coincidence that companies like Facebook and Google are investing in Africa with their global CEOs visiting places like Nigeria.

You have managed the affairs of Viacom International media Networks Africa and BET international for quite some time now, how has your journey being so far in terms of achievements?

The journey has been a blessing. I went from pitching a business case for launching one localized channel, MTV Base, in Africa to now running a network with 10 channels that are programmed and created for the continent and cater to different demographics. We have served as a key catalyst in helping to put African and Nigerian music on the map both within the continent and globally. Our Africa re-imagined vision is being realized as people think differently of our continent and countries because of the impact our music is having globally. We have an award winning campaign in Shuga that has helped educate young people and change their behavior in terms of sexual health. We have been active in getting young people to go out and vote in major elections across Africa through our Choose or Lose campaign. We have amazing people that work for us across the continent behind the scenes. In my first year as the Executive Vice President & MD for BET International, we presented the best International Act Award, Viewer’s Choice Best International Act and Global Good Award to three amazing Africans on two shows in front of American audiences. I would say that we have done quite a bit and God has afforded me the grace for a great journey thus far. What were some of the challenges you encountered when starting out and how did you work around them?

One of the challenges was making sure that I delivered on the promise of the business plan that I developed. I had projected that we would break even in three years via a model driven by distribution, advertising and sponsorship revenues through Pay TV and Free-To-Air (FTA) partnerships. In the beginning, it was difficult to secure programming block partnerships on FTA because players in the space where just used to selling their airtime. We had to convince them that through quality youth centric content, we could more than double the revenues they were getting. Luckily, we were able to launch on a couple of partner stations, which proved our model for us to expand our distribution.

I believe that our young people will make bigger contributions in the technology space, which will also serve to uplift our continent and the world. It’s not a coincidence that companies like Facebook and Google are investing in Africa with their global CEOs visiting places like Nigeria.

When you launched MTV Africa, what were some of your biggest fears as regards the quality of local content?

I did not want to patronize our continent just to say we have an African channel if the standard was not going to be on par with the rest of the MTV channels around the world. I knew that if that we set a benchmark, helped to train the industry and demonstrated the return on value to the talent and content makers, they would step up to the challenge, but I was nervous at first. Having blazed this trail, it’s amazing to now have all these other channels doing great work, which for me is critical, as it helps grow the creative industry.

Would you, in all honesty, say there has being a lot of improvement especially when placed in comparison with foreign counterparts?

Of course, glaringly so! The improvement has been tremendous. I need to only point you to the quality of music videos from Nigerian artists before we arrived to those we started putting on the channel two years later. Today, without the distinctive Nigeria sound, it would be impossible to tell if a video is shot in Los Angeles or Lagos. With the digital age closing in on us, where do you see the future of TV and how prepared is Viacom when it comes to cashing in on the new environment?

I believe that TV still has a long life ahead of it. Of course, people are watching content now when they want, how they want and on mobile devices. However, I believe that ultimately the communal viewing habit of television in bringing people together will always make it an important entertainment destination. Yes, linear viewership may not grow in leaps and bounds as in the past, but people will still use TV to view content on demand. As VIMN Africa, we are fortunate that we are geared to serve viewers across the different choices they make. We have great content on our linear platforms, and we also partner with on demand platforms to provide them with our content. How do you also expect this to impact media revenue and profit generation?

I believe the revenue and profit mix will change in the future. But for now, the reality is that linear TV consumption is still growing at a strong rate on the continent as you have people who are only able to afford TV for the first time. If they already had television, they are also now able to afford Pay-TV with multi-channel options. In the future it could be that on demand revenues will take a more significant share of the revenue mix but for a company like ours that creates high quality content, it is an opportunity, as content will always be king. Among all the brands of Viacom (MTV, MTV Base, VH1 Classic, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nick Jnr and BET) a few are already household names, but some are yet to pick up. Do you see digitization helping to provide a big push to them?

I believe being able to provide branded content on digital platforms will definitely help us grow the value of our brands. However, in the Pay-TV space, our brands perform incredibly well. Yes, there are a couple of them that we want to get distribution for on the wider distributed bouquets but our channels are strong performers in the spaces they air. How would you define the power of African entertainment and what is the message you aim to pass to the world through Viacom network Africa?

African entertainment has great potential to transcend beyond our national and continental borders and create immense employment opportunities for our young people.

Youth unemployment is one of the biggest factors that is holding back our continent. Given the immense creative talent that our young people possess, if we are able to create the right opportunities and structures, it can be a great sector for creating employment across the entire value chain. As Viacom International Media Networks Africa, we want to showcase to the world that Africa is a great source of creativity and talent and that it holds opportunities in the entertainment space that can drive significant business growth. Which of your achievements has meant the most to you, either for its personal significance or the impact on your career?

I believe being able to launch MTV Base really helped to elevate the conversation about African music and youth culture in a positive way. We were the first global media brand, outside of the news outlets, to invest on

the continent. The coverage on the global editions of the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, Newsweek, etc. really helped to tell the story that Africa was open for business in the media and entertainment space and the business success we found I believe, has helped spur early confidence in the space. Running a network as large as Viacom Africa must be really time consuming, how do you create time for yourself to let off steam?

I have an incredible team of people that remain standing until the work is done. My team is passionate and driven by the same idea that we want the world to see us as a world-class business. Given this great support, I am able to find time now and again to spend with my loved ones. I love going to the gym, Spa and spending quality time with my family.

If you weren’t working in entertainment, what would have been the option?

I love sports so since I did not make it to the pro basketball level, I probably would have been doing something around football or soccer. I wish the political arena was not so complicated as I have also been interested in being part of the solution to get our continent/countries to the right place. Any new projects you working on at the moment?

We have a lot of projects we are working on across our brands. On the Nickelodeon side, we want to create more experiential opportunities similar to NickFest for parents and their children to spend time together having fun. On the MTV Base brand, we are working on content ideas that will integrate more digital elements that put our viewers at the center. With our BET brand, we are working on developing local versions of our hit international formats. With Comedy Central, the brand is incredibly strong in Southern Africa and we are now focused on making it a household name in Nigeria and other key countries on the continent. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

I am passionate about being able to mentor young people to help them achieve their potential. I was so lucky to have amazing mentors throughout the years who really helped me to get this far. I have a few people that I mentor today, but I want to do more in this space. I also see myself continuing to do stuff behind the scenes that I believe serves my purpose.

African entertainment has great potential to transcend beyond our national and continental borders and create immense employment opportunities for our young people.