WHAT WILL MAKE THE KENYAN FILM INDUSTRY ‘BOOM’?

The global entertainment and media industry surpassed the $2 trillion mark last year, amid growing movie ticket sales, technological advancements, increasing advertising revenue and placements as well as the introduction of HD TV and Blu Ray home theatre.

Cinemas across the world have also seen massive upgrades with over 10,000 screens across the US and Europe getting facelifts and making it cheaper to bring films to the theatre, and hopefully increase the number of movie goers again.

Right here in Kenya, we’ve witnessed the revolution of 3D cinema, with the introdcution of the concept just two years ago at the Sarit Centre cineplex and the Westgate as well as the latest entrant just last month, the IMAX experience, at the 20th Century Plaza on Mama Ngina Street at the heart of the city.

Read more about the IMAX Nairobi opening here >>

The introduction of 3D television by predominantly Samsung and LG screens has made home viewership even more thrilling as the price of getting DVDs and computer games has sharply decreased.

As the next generation of entertainment and technology rapidly sets in, video gaming has increasingly become crucial to the industry, coming second only to the trillion dollar movie industry. It is also predicted that downloads and ring tones, as witnessed by the emergence of Skiza tunes as well as the countless number of download services across local television networks, have become more valuable than sales of physical CDs.

With the movie and gaming entertainment industries driving the leading economies of the world (it’s predicted that the global entertainment industry value is now larger than the GDP of the United Kingdom) where will Kenya be placed?

To tap into this lucrative arena, local technology ideologists and experts should come up with ideas, products and ventures that would rival any global offerings to position themselves for the already booming business. With economies becoming global baskets, it makes little sense that we should be watching up to 5 year old seasons of an American series when premium channels available to us are playing catch up with ‘almost’ current seasons.

Kenyan productions also need to adapt to the changing climate of advancements and offer timely and modern content that can relate to its viewers. We’ve had screenings like ‘Cobra Squad’ (featured below) which show that big budget productions can be done, but the area requires a lot of improvement.

The challenges facing broadcasters may include budgetary limits as well as the lack of adequate expertise, but evidently if you offer your viewers something of substance and quality,you will always get your money back.