IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION OF DISTRIBUTION OF FILM IN KENYA
Introduction
Until recently, the conventional rules of distribution of motion pictures in Kenya has based on the traditional technologies of distribution. The dissemination of movies was based on DVD Technology, where Movie Rental shops acted as distributors. However, recent development in technologies such as broadband internet and associated mediums that can disseminate film through different platforms like Phones, Smart Televisions, and laptops. Are revolutionizing the way audiences are screening motion picture, threatening the traditional method of distribution of motion with elimination.
The third industrial revolution ushered in the epoch of the digital technology revolution. I am delving into the digital world of film distribution and its impact in Kenya. Rapid innovation in internet technology has transformed the delivery of motion pictures through the Over the Top services. In this chapter, I delved into the impact of digital technology on the distribution of motion pictures in Kenya. Digital technologies have revolutionized the mediums of film distribution, threatening the traditional mediums of distribution with elimination in the long run.
It is against this backdrop of digital transformation, through the historical lens of film dissemination in Kenya. I tend to examine the impact of digital technologies in Kenya since the introduction of the motion picture was in Kenya to date. Technological Innovations like the DVD revolutionized the motion picture distribution landscape in Kenya. They are creating new mediums of distribution, leading to the creation of new business of film distribution, such as distributors, and the birth of informal distribution in Riverwood in Kenya as the traditional medium of dissemination of films in Kenya.
Government of Kenya investment in Infrastructure in information communication technology. Has to Propel the growth of internet-based distribution of motion picture through the Over the Top services like YouTube, Netflix, and Viusasa. They are transforming traditional mediums of broadcasting of movies, with new mediums of distribution. The diffusion and adoption of these streaming services have threatened the elimination of Movie distributors in Kenya while Mobile phone distribution has transformed the film industry further.
For a coherent understanding of the impact of digitization in motion pictures in Kenya, it will be grounded on the theories of disruptive innovation and diffusion of innovation. The work of Clayton Christensen will be seminal in delving the transformation of digital technology; a phenome refers to as disruptive innovation. It is a process where innovations are changing the way of producing goods and services that are eventually threatening incumbents with elimination through enhancing new products and services that are better than of the incumbent and ae cheap as innovations brought by digital technology tend to bypass the traditional method of distributors—thus disrupting the traditional method of distribution in Kenya.
While Everest Rodgers work on the slow and often unanticipated painful adoption of information technology innovations tend to transform an organization’s operations. This work Will be seminal in delving how the consumers and film producers are adopting these new mediums of innovations, and how they are transforming the consumers and film producers, promoting such use of new mediums of distribution at the expense of traditional mediums threatening cannibalization of the traditional medium of distribution of motion picture in the long run. Thus this chapter is going to examine these impacts of digital technology through the lens disruption of innovation and diffusion of innovation theory in Kenya.
Film Distribution through the Ages in Kenya
The invention of the motion picture occurred in an epoch when the occidental countries were consolidating it a colonial expansion to Africa Countries; thus, the film was a voyage to Africa as an indoctrination tool by the colonizers. Okioma and Mugubi avers that;
The landing of the film camera on the Kenyan soil marked a radical shift in the social and cultural structure of Kenya’s society. One far off boundaries and geographical phenomena were bridged, as vividly captured and reproduced on celluloid through the lens. Social and political structures were bent at best and broken at worst with the introduction of cinema. Being a social event happening in a confined environment that was to be paid for in advance introduced a commercial and reclusive aspect in leisure and entertainment hitherto free, communal, and utilitarian in the African context. (46)
These were the hallmarks of the introduction of motion pictures in Kenya. The distribution was skewed towards the colonizer’s audience in the Cinema Halls, as indigenous natives were distributed motion pictures through the mobile cinema vans, which were mostly biopic. The colonizers built cinema theatre halls in Urban Centers for the White audience for distribution of foreign movies. A trend that has continued today, where major cinema Theatre Halls are located in urban areas, with the significant foreign title for screening, while little or lack of indigenous titles screened in the cinema theatre halls. While cinema-going is seen as an elitist, by the indigenous even after independence, du the lack of cinema theatre development in rural areas.
The post-independence period was marked by high cinema theatre attendance by the indigenous native who lived in the urban areas. Kenya Film Commission avers that;
Cinema theatre exhibition thrives after independence up to 1980, where urban families will go out and watch the latest release foreign movies yet this period there were few or no local production that was screened in these theatres. (11)
The nonexistence of indigenous motion pictures from Kenya Cinema Theatres resulted in Hollywood film dumping their films into the Kenya market cheaply. It later manifested into a situation where distributors find it more profitable to exhibit foreign films that have been dumped at the market because they were cheap. Sama summaries the situation of film distribution in Kenya and Africa as “African films being foreigners in their own countries” (54). The ramification was a total blackout of screening of indigenous films in Cinema Theatre in Kenya during the post-independence.
Lobato reaffirms phenomenal that “African films accounted for less than 0.1 percent titles screened in Africa by mid-1990.” (172).Resulting in an influx of foreign movies in Kenya since foreigners controlled the cinema Exhibition. The lack of distribution of the native film in the theatre cinemas in Kenya resulted in the weak distribution channel of the motion picture, creating the development of informal distribution with the enhancement of technological innovation in the distribution of motion pictures. During this period of post-independence, Television broadcast becomes a distribution channel for Local production such as Mlevi.
The Technological innovation of Video Technology and Video Home System (VHS) by Victor Company of Japan in 1976, transformed the film industry immensely by giving the audience control that they did not have with theatrical or Live Broadcast in Television, such as re-watching, pausing, or fast-forwarding an experience the viewers did not have before. (Simon 35). In the distribution of motion, picture VHS created a distribution medium through the VHS tapes directly to the audience. It democratizes distribution from the confines of cinema Theatre to the directly to the comfort of audience homes.
Rodgers observes that as “technological innovation embodies information thus reducing uncertainty about the cause-effect relationship in problem –solving” (6) the adoption of Video Home System as a result by the adopters of Video Home System referring to their friends, due to the new, improved services it was offering especially among the middle class in Kenya.VHS become staple devices in people’s homes, as a result of its diffusion creating the Home Video Theatre, the ramification was the slow decline of cinema attendance around the globe and in Kenya.
Home Video Revolution Through the Digital Video Disc, (DVD)
Hoffmann observe that;
Digital Video Disc, (DVD) is the most successful carrier medium in moving image history, introduced only in 1997; the DVD has managed to become the most influential and innovative platform from the moving image (161)
True to the observation of Hoffmann, the DVD Technology has revolutionized the distribution of motion pictures since it started replaces the of VHS Tapes in the home theatre distribution of films. It enabled to compressed video digitally. The introduction of DVD technology in the distribution of motion picture ushered in the era of digital distribution of the motion picture industry. Leading to the digitization of the distribution of motion pictures, resulting in a sea of change in the distribution of motion pictures with the new DVD innovation. It transformed the audience exhibition habits, having a profound impact on movie Distribution. It created the Home Theatre industry, which threatened to eliminate the Cinema Theatre Industry of distribution, as the innovation spread and adopted in various parts of the world.
The DVD transformation created the private screening sphere for the audience, the superior image, and sound quality, enabled it to compete with Cinema and Television distribution mediums. The result was increased diffusion and adoption of the DVDs as a medium of distribution of motion picture to the Home Theater Market, making it to expand rapidly. Hoffman examines that, unlike other innovations that struggle to diffuse in the market. The rapid adoption and diffusion of DVD earned its reputation as the fastest-growing media for distributing motion pictures around the world (162). Kenya’s film industry was based on the Home Video Theatre, as a result of the revolution of DVD in the film industry. It enables the democratization of distribution to many Kenyans who could not access Theatre Halls in Kenya, especially in the rural areas.
The proliferation of DVD players in Kenya was manifested by the DVD players becoming staple Home appliances among the middle class of Kenya. A phenomenal that Rogers described as a process by which innovation is communicated through specific channels over time among members of a social system (10). Thus the adoption of DVD Technology by the middle class in Kenya as a result of their inability to watch movies in theatres, making DVD inventions to be compatible with Cinema Exhibition.
Nyutho observes that the DVDs distribution gave families a platform to screen movies of their choice, with ought going to cinema Theatre Halls, which lead to a drastic fall of theatre attendance, leading to the closure of many cinema houses in Kenya (170). The closure of Theatre cinema halls was a manifestation of diffusion and adaptation DVD innovation by the middle-class who used to be a primary audience in the theatre halls. The Home Video Market distribution unlocked new possibilities of distribution of motion pictures in Kenya. It opens avenues of distribution of motion pictures that never existed before. The arrival of DVDs distribution cannibalized theatrical and Television Release distribution mediums that existed.
The ramifications DVD Distribution was the drastic decline of cinema attendance, with an increase in DVD distribution in Kenya. In Kenya, DVD player becomes staple homes appliances in most Kenyans houses. The effect was a drastic decline in theatre attendance, forcing many cinema halls to close, such as Kenya Cinema, Globe Cinema, Odeon Cinema, Shan Cinema, and Nu Metro. A phenomenal Christensen examined as disruptive innovation, as innovations come up with new goods and services that eliminate the traditional goods and services with time, as a result of its affordability and price (11). The new services offered by the DVD distribution, coupled with the privacy that the DVDs provided, like watching film privately as opposed in the group like in theatre cinema, and it was also cheap and readily available, unlike the traditional mediums of distribution such as Theatre Cinema that were only available in Urban centers and expensive, the poor could not afford. At the same time, Television was a luxury for the rich than the poor could afford in Kenya. These factors propel DVD adoption and diffusion at the cost of theatre distribution, finally cannibalizing Cinema Theatre Distribution and Exhibition in Kenya though the closure of Cinema Theatres Halls in Kenya.
The innovation of DVDs first targeted the Television Distribution of motion pictures. It created new services through such as re-watching, fast-forwarding, and pausing that were not available before in the exhibition of a motion picture. The technological enhancement of DVD to Blue Rey DVDs, increased the number of Movies from, one to several movies, you only pay for one Blue Rey DVD, and you get several movies you can watch at the comfort of your home, making DVD players become a staple on people homes in Kenya and putting the final nail into the coffin of theatre distribution and exhibition in Kenya. New distribution channels were developed, such as DVD rental shops, Informal theatre Exhibition (movie exhibition Vibanda) was created, as Cinema exhibition and distribution decline drastically in Kenya.
The DVD distribution was an invention that spread as a result of the new services it offered to the first adopters, who later communicated the innovations to others and their benefits, leading the creation of the Home Video Industry in Kenya. Furthermore, creating the movie culture in Kenya that was based on the distribution of DVDs, the indigenous film production was also resurrected from the limbo, after the total blackout in by foreigners that controlled the Theatre distribution in Kenya. Self-distribution was made possible through the direct to video release to the Video home market.
Was created as a process of diffusion of innovation of the technology of DVD distribution, propelling, the development and expansion of Home Video Market Industry, that Kenya Film Industry distribution is based.
Indigenous film producers adopted the direct to Video release; it involved indigenous motion picture producers directly distributing through the Video Home Market through the DVDs.Unlike the symmetrical distribution of motion pictures that involved theatre release at the top, followed by other ancillary markets such as Television, Home Video Industry. The decline of cinema attendance in Kenya, as a result of innovation in Home Video System popularity, lead to the direct to video release. Informal distribution channels had already started with the dissemination of foreign pirated DVDs to the Home Video Market.
The DVD revolution in the motion picture was manifested Kenyan film industry through the creation of new exhibition mediums through the informal theatre exhibition cinema found in estate and village video shows. It sprung rapidly in slum estates in urban areas and Rural Village centers. Families who could not afford DVD player, could go and watch the Video Shows in the makeshift Cinema Hall at an affordable price. Ng’ang’a examined this phenomenon in his thesis title Demand for locally produced Films by Residents of Nairobi County, Kenya,(2015) he examined that film industry in Kenya is synonymous with the low number of movie cinemas, with majority located in Nairobi. Other major urban centers and distribution outlets in Kenya is relatively week, with Kenyans diminishing appetite to go and watch movies in cinema (4). The small number of cinema theatre halls is a manifestation of canibilazion of DVD distribution in cinema theatres distribution, translating to the decline of theatrical distribution and exhibition in Kenya.
Thus DVD distribution technology created the film culture in Kenya, by opening up new exhibition channel to the rural parts of Kenya, that lack cinema theatre halls, while Television broadcast release of movies was limited since only a few people in the village could afford the Television; thus DVD distribution innovation was able to penetrate the rural village in Kenya creating demand in those areas. Resulting in the rise of Riverwood film business in Kenya, as the nerve center of informal film distribution to supply the rural areas demand movies.
Home Video Distribution, Riverwood
Riverwood originated from the backyard street of Nairobi Central Business District at the height of Home Video growth and expansion in Kenya. The home video industry created directly to video release distribution as a result of lack of Cinema Distribution. Lack of cinema Theatre halls in rural areas means that indigenous film could not release their movies theatrically, leading them to release to direct to Home Video market, which enables them to distribute through the DVDs.Promoting informal distribution channels, such as self-distribution, as well as piracy. The growth and expansion of estate and Village Video Shows created a demanding market for DVD distribution
through this informal theatres outlet that sprang out of the Home Video industry.
Riverwood creation was a result of the increasing demand for both locally and internationally films at a low and affordable price. Nyutho noted that early operatives in Riverwood venture into the business of informal distribution due to a high rate of unemployment, and started pirating DVDs for both Videos and Music for mass distribution, creating an informal industry of motion picture industry (177). Riverwood created a monster in the form of piracy through the informal distribution that has led to the slow development of the film industry. Kenya Film Commission Audience Consumer Trends Survey Report (2011) examined despite the fact the majority of Kenyans 87% of the respondents watch motion pictures through DVDs; the report noted that piracy was a significant impediment to the growth of film industry in Kenya.
River Road, the street where is Riverwood was created, to dates, is synonymous with informal activities of mass distribution. The informal distribution of direct to video release is characterized by low- budget production, rapid shooting, loose scripting, and use of home-video technology, with the dissemination and circulation of the motion picture on VHS, VCD, and DVD usually channel through informal trading roots based in the pre-existing pirate networks as the case of Riverwood. In the Rural areas, the distribution of motion picture was is based through self-distribution, where film producer sells the DVDs, and VCDs in the market or through hawking in the Vans in the Rural Towns to fight off the pirates. In the last decade’s film distribution has been based on the informal distribution through the Seles of DVDs and VCDs.
The high demand for foreign and local film by the middle class in a different part of the country led to Video Rental Business Popularly Know Us Movie Shops along with the urban centers market, and even in the rural areas. They Movie Shops which distributed the movie through DVDs, Flash Disk, and Even though phones were distributor’s channels to the high demand for movies in the neighborhood and estates in Kenya. Resulting in the birth of Video Rental Shops in Kenya
Distributors: The Movie Shops Culture
Distributors in Home Video Market act as gatekeepers, their role is to acquire films from the movie stores or download them from the internet, copy them media DVDs, then distribute them to the consumers. The DVD distribution innovation created a market for the distributors in Kenya, to distribute to the Home Video Market that has expanded and grown to various part of the country, as a result of diffusion and adoption Home Theatre Industry in Kenya.
Riverwood’s informal nature and its location in the Central Business District in Capital City mean that it could not distribute motion pictures to all parts of the country. With more Kenyans demand for both local and foreign films, a market was created for Video Vendor Distributors around the urban areas in the country. The closure of the majority of cinema halls in Kenya, left the middle class with the only choice to watch the film in their homes, thus the birth of Video Vendor Shops to cater to their taste and preference of motion picture, through the sale of DVDs in their shops. Leading to the proliferation of video vendor shops in the neighborhood estates, and in Super Market Malls in Kenya in from mid-2000 to date. As Etemesi observe that;
In the estate, a movie shop is a very iconic place. It is where you go to purchase your dose of riveting foreign cinematic and Television production when you are still breaking to afford your Wi-Fi. It is also a place where you go when you do not have enough cool friends who keep up with the latest movies. In short, you have no one to borrow from. That is why movie shops are always full.
The location of movie vendor shops at major supermarket malls, the supermarket is an indication of the importance of their distribution role to the middle-class society in Kenya. Thus they also help in disseminating and circulation of motion pictures through DVDs to the majority of Kenya population, both rural and urban areas. Movie shops have proliferated to rural areas since the birth of Home Video in Kenya, and they are the gatekeepers of the distribution of motion pictures in Kenya. The Kenya government realize their importance in the film economy in Kenya and formed Kenya Film and Classification Board that regulate the video shops around the country, through providing licenses to them.
The movie shops have played a vital role in the distribution of motion picture in Kenya, in the era of the video boom economy. Their business model is based on DVD rental of the Hollywood system of distribution. They employed the majority of youth in Kenya, and are generating revenue to the government through taxes. The proliferation of Video on Demand services in Kenya over the last three years has threatened them with elimination. Gaustad observe the phenomenon of transformation by digitization to the Home Video market that depended on DVD distribution as
Smartphones and tablets, together with an improved broadband internet infrastructure and other technological developments, allows us to watch a film on the go, expanding our understanding of ‘home video’ to cover film consumption anywhere except in the cinema. Consequently, the arena for home video consumption has expanded in both time and space, online streaming services have quickly grown into leading market channels while former dominant channels, such as DVD and Blue Ray formats, have been marginalized (67)
The arrival of streaming services as a distribution method of films that is targeting the home Video in Kenya is gradually transforming the distribution of motion pictures in Kenya, threatening the elimination of Movie Vendor Shop business in the long run, who acted as the gatekeepers of Movies.
Though the majority of Kenyans find themselves visiting the Movie shops once in a while just to experience the culture and get updated on the current movies, the popularity of film streaming increases day by day. The decline of DVD sales over the decade around the world, and the increasing streaming sites services as well as in a shift in how consumers are watching movies could be the final death knell for DVD Technology that has radically transformed the distribution and exhibition of the motion picture in Kenya over the years.
Online Video Distributors in Kenya
The Government of Kenya, through the Vision 2030, an economic Blueprint launched in 2006, recognizes the strategic role of Information Communication and Technology in stimulating the growth of the Kenyan economy. The government, over the past years, has invested in the Infrastructure that enables to facilitate Digital economy in Kenya. The government implementation of the first-mile Infrastructure that involved lying underwater cables in 2009, and last-mile infrastructure implementation of which involve the connection of the internet to the users such as fiber, wireless, or satellite (MICT 45). It is leading to the availability of reliable and affordable internet that has increases the demand with technology associated with smart devices, creating new markets based on internet connectivity and availability.
The increased internet connectivity in Kenya has resulted in the creation of digital economy an economy as defined by the government as “The entirety of sectors that operate using digitally –enable communications and networks leveraging the internet, mobile, and other technologies” (MICT 17)L—leading the government vision of a digitally empowered citizenry, living in a digitally enabled society—resulting in an expansion of connectivity of fiber optic in many government offices and public learning institutions. Fiber optic provides a reliable, efficient, and faster speed internet, leading many organizations to rush to get connected to the fiber.
These made Kenyan be an economy Hub that attracted several multinationals such as IBM, Airtel, and Samsung increasing internet and data demand, (Wasonga 1) while the majority of Kenyans starting adopting the internet-based commerce and communication creating a considerable demand for the bandwidth in Kenya. Telcom companies such as Safaricom, Telecom Kenya, Jamii Telkom, and Zuku, started connecting affordable broadband internet to people’s homes, recreational places, and learning institutions that were first, efficient, and affordable—leading to the availability of free Wi-Fi Hotspots in many public places and learning institutions in Kenya.
The internet boom in Kenya has made the availability of mass broadband through the cables modems, Wi-Fi, or Fiber Connections in the homes. This technological enhancement on the internet has not only to transform the process of distribution, processing, and receiving goods and services, enabling the consumers to enjoy the freedom, as to when, where, and how to get and consume goods and services. Creating new threats and opportunities for the incumbent business model. (Chang et al. 7). In the motion picture industry in Kenya, the emergence of wireless broadband resulted in new avenues of internet-based distribution. They are transforming the traditional modes of distribution of movies in Kenya, as well as the audience.
The broadband accessibility and affordability have resulted in digital distribution mediums over the internet, that can be accessed through the current Telkom service providers Network, Kenya mobile phone penetration at 100.1 percent. In contrast, the total number of active Internet /Data subscriptions stood at 42.2 million (CA 17). An indication that the majority in Kenya access internet through mobile phones, this has radically transform consumers’ habits in the screening of motion picture, affecting DVD distribution.
The digitization of distribution of motion picture has created over the top (OTT) services mediums of distribution over the internet, a process of digitally distributing movies over the internet, where the content distributed become free from control by the OTT service such as Netflix, Hulu, Viusasa and YouTube in terms of viewership, copyrights, as well as the redistribution rights, as they deliver the services via an internet service provider (Rono and Mugeni 35). The rise of the millennia audience in Kenya, coupled with radially available first efficient and affordable internet in Kenya, has increased the demand for OTT services in the consumption of media and motion pictures. The popularity of other users of OTT services such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype in Kenya, has increased the distribution of motion pictures over the OTT services in Kenya.
The diffusion and adoption of streaming sites are gradually transforming the motion picture distribution landscape in Kenya. Has resulted in a continued reconfiguration in the ways people exhibit, distribute, and receive motion pictures in Kenya. They are resulting in disruptive technology in the Home Video Market in Kenya, which depended on DVD distribution medium. The streaming mediums technology innovation has revolutionized the distribution of motion pictures in Kenya by threatening to cannibalize DVD distribution bypassing, thus challenging its profitability. With sustain enhance innovations and new services providing the audience with unique experiences on their mediums.
Online Video Demand streaming mediums of ability to apply algorithms to determine consumer’s habits of screening movies have enabled the mediums to distribute movies tailored to their consumers. Baye et al. explain:
Leading media platforms (e.g., Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes) now provide users with recommendations for specific media titles based on sophisticated algorithms that account for a given user’s preferences as well as the rating provided by other users. Consumers also receive recommendations through social networks such as Facebook; “friends” can indicate whether they “liked” a particular song, movie, or book. Many of these recommendation systems operate in real-time and used purchase patterns of consumers would be otherwise unaware of. (138)
These inbuilt services in the streaming mediums of distribution have enabled the transformation of the audience since their information profiles through algorithms enabling the mediums to distribute to them the motion picture that they want to be screened, Leading to their diffusion and adoption of these new mediums of distribution of motion picture at the expense of traditional mode of distribution.
The proliferation of distribution of movies streaming sites like YouTube, Netflix and Vimeo coupled with diffusion and adaptation increased internet availability and affordability around the country is a manifestation of the transformation of the consumers of the motion picture in Kenya. Henning-Thurau et al. noted that the entry of these new channels as a result of digital innovations in the motion picture the traditional sequencing of channels has come under intense siege (63). Screen Australia observed that streaming services audiences are growing faster rate, while DVDs rentals buying is drastically falling around the world (19). The DVD sales around the world have been declining with the increase in Video on Demand services, a manifestation shift from DVD distribution being cannibalized by the Video on Demand Services as in the case in Kenya.
Streaming mediums of motion pictures provides viewers with a unique opportunity to select films from different platforms, and screen films on their terms. Baye et al. also note that Online Video Demand allows consumers to access relevant information directly;
Additionally, advances in search technologies have made it easier for consumers to access information that is relevant for their purchase decisions directly…. These changes in search technologies allow consumers to find a greater breadth of products and make the long tail more accessible; it is now easier to find rare and obscure books, music, and movies. Moreover, thanks to digitization, consumers can now view samples of book pages, listen to sample music tracks, and watch scenes from movies through a plethora of devices connected to the internet. In short, finding the “right” product now takes less effort, and it is easier to compare the prices different sellers charge for that product. (138)
These services that were once offered by the DVD distributors rental shops have been digitized by the streaming sites mediums of motion picture distribution, leading to it spread in Kenya as it eliminates the physical working to the DVD distributor shop to buy a movie of your choice.
Digitization of distribution is a unique approach to motion picture distribution in Kenya, has manifested itself in the democratization of distribution and exhibition of film, from the popularity home video market circulated through DVDs, to mobile phone distribution circulated digitally through smartphones applications in Kenya bypassing traditional method of distribution like DVD distribution threatening distributors with elimination in the value chain of film distribution.
The work of Clayton Christensen will be seminal in modeling the process of technological innovation transforming business through threatening the incumbent with cannibalization. The economist called this technology innovation as disruptive innovation; the innovation tends to be inferior and low in its introduction to the market, becoming better and better with technological enhancement displacing the incumbent with new goods and services that are cheap, simple, and convenient (Christensen 5). Disruptive innovations construct an entirely new product and services in the market, internet-based distribution of motion picture has created a new medium of distribution of motion picture services, enabling distribution of movies through simple mediums like smartphones, and Laptops, they are also convenient as consumers do not need to go to the movie distributors shop physically, they are also cheap as some such as YouTube are free.
These new services offered by the streaming innovation has transformed film distribution in Kenya. With the availability of efficient, affordable, and first internet in Kenya, many movies consumers have adopted the new medium of Film Distribution over the internet. Zhu posit that
Digital film delivery may displace physical films, video, and DVDs, thus threatening the long term survival of video rental stores and other middle layers in the value chain. (273)
They are threatening the distributors in the movie shop with elimination since these new mediums bypass them directly to the consumers. These streaming sites also offer services where the consumer can download the movie through file-sharing sites, to watch later, and share with their friends turning the consumers to mini distributors among their friends, further threatening the profits of movies distributor in Kenya, that might lead closing of the movie distributor in the long run.
The proliferation, diffusion, and adoption of streaming sites mediums of distribution of motion picture Have resulted into a seismic shift into consumer habits in screening Movies through their smartphones, since the new mediums can distribute them movies through phones giving them privacy and freedom to choose from numerous movies on their platforms, while the distributors’ Shops they Depend on the distributor availability to have the movie, which sometimes they lack a verity of the movie, leading to declining to go to movie shop in Kenya.
Sarah Whitten observe this phenomenon in her article title The Death of the DVD: Why sales dropped more than 86% in 13 years in the CNBC Entertainment Newspaper, she observes that since 2008, DVD sales have declined more than 86% globally, as a result of the rise of streaming services offered by Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu couple with a drastic shift in how consumers are screening films and Television shows could be the final death knell for the DVD Technology.
Drastic fall of DVD sales globally is an indication of the ramifications of digital innovations in the distribution of motion pictures. Though disruption innovations tend to happen gradually over the period in Kenya, the popularity of streaming sites of movie distribution such as Netflix, Viusasa, YouTube, and file-sharing platforms is threatening the movie shop business. Musambi notes that the movie shop business in Kenya is in terminal decline; the once healthy market has spiral steeply south. She observes that in the in recent years’ movie shops has been drastically closing in various part of Nairobi. She notes that this is a result of the convenience of the streaming sites.
Kenyan Distributors’ business model was based on downloading the latest films in both illegal and legal downloading sites. What the movie shops owners need was the first internet. Thus buying a physical DVD copy was necessary for many Kenyans who did not have access to the first internet. The spread of fiber cable by Telecom companies such as Safaricom, Jamii Telecom, and Zuku in the various part of the country, enable most estates in urban areas in the country to have efficient, reliable, and readily available in most of the country. It was thus facilitating digital distribution of motion pictures through the Video on Demand streaming sites such as Netflix, YouTube, and Viusasa.
Learning institutions and recreational Centers have fast Wi-Fi coupled with rapid expansion fiber cable connectivity in urban centers around the country. Students in learning institutions who were a reliable customer base for movie shops end up downloading the movies online. Once they do so, they quickly share the movie files with their friends though flash disk or mobile application platforms like Telegram, thus no need for DVDs distribution anymore, since you can get a constant supply of movies from friends even if you have no access to the first internet. The fact the digitally recorded video does not loose quality while downloading, or coping with another person compare to Scratches to DVDs, and the mediums of which they could be played were limited, this factors eliminated the need to buy movies form movie shops.
Fibre cable connectivity in the urban areas within the estate has made it easy for steaming, downloading, and screening of motion picture of most people in the comfort of their homes, thus there is no need to go to movie shop vendor to buy Movies from their shops. The proliferation of internet-enabled smartphones devices has led to the rapid use of mobile phone applications for dissemination, distribution, and screening of movies, coupled with availability of first and efficient Wi-Fi hotspots in buses, recreational centers, and most public places means that majority of Kenyans can access the internet and download their favorite movies through their phones, once they have downloaded movies they can share it with their friends, effectively eliminating the services of movie shops vendors.
Steimants avers that these disruptive innovations require considerable change in consumption patterns and perceived as offering substantially enhanced benefits (10). Research by Social Media Africa Lab Africa, housed by United States International University-Africa, on Social Media Consumption in Kenya: Trends and Practices 2019 find out 28% of Kenyans use Social Media for Entertainment, while 74.4% of Kenyans use YouTube for entertainment with an average of each spending more than three hours in YouTube. An indication of a change in Kenyan audience consumption patterns of motion picture broadcast. The popularity of the use of YouTube, Netflix, and Viusasa and other movie streaming sites is a manifestation of the enhanced benefit consumers are getting from the new digital platform of film broadcasting as a result of disruptive innovations.
Chao et al. argue that digital platforms of distribution of motion pictures make it easy for the consumers to obtain movies because prices are low, can be easily exhibited, can be easily shared with others, and no need to buy additional unique gadgets (107). Christensen observed that disruptive innovations tend to be smaller, simpler, cheaper, and more reliable and convenient than the established products (12). These are the enhance benefits that digital distribution of motion picture that consumers get in the digital platforms of distribution, they are more straightforward, convenient, and small, compare to the Movie shop where one has to walk to the movie shop physically.
The popularity of YouTube, Viusasa, and other streaming sites in Kenya, especially among the middle class and the youth, is a threat to the Movie Shop business. They are cheap, small, and convenient to the consumer, who can broadcast motion pictures through multiple platforms of screens, from smartphones when they are stacked in a jam to Laptops when they are in office to television screens with their family at night. Technological disruption in the media industry in Kenya has already forced traditional media to adapt to changing trends by embracing disruption innovation to remain profitable. (Media Council of Kenya 85) nonetheless, it has come at the cost of job cuts in the media houses, some jobs were rendered redundant, and many journalists fired.
Digital technologies will enable film producers in Kenya to bypass traditional distributors such as Movie Shops through video-on-demand platforms such as Viusasa, YouTube, and Netflix since the video can also be digitally compressed to a digital file for disseminating over social sites such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and steaming legal streaming sites for film producers to generate revenues. Traditional players in distribution may be eliminated or transformed their business models into new types of aggregators to survive total obliteration by the new digital channel of distribution, though the process might be gradual.
The Revolution of Internet Distribution
Kenyan film Industry has always been based on the Home Video Theatre distribution model, based on the dissemination of motion pictures through DVD Technology innovation over the years. The Home Video Theatre distribution has been transformed by Video on Demand streaming services that have bypassed the distributors, Movie Shops business, by directly distributing motion pictures to the consumers. Leading to the Movie shops to be Vulnerable to cannibalization by the Video on Demand streaming sites in Kenya in the long run. Zhu posit that
Location and selection have been two compelling criteria in the video rental industry. Nevertheless, video on demand negates their utility significantly. With Video on Demand, the selection is almost infinite and geographic proximity is inconsequential (1)
These factors have transformed the distribution landscape of in Kenya Film Industry; thus it is through a critical eye to the future, that I address the looming disruption of distribution of movies, with the arrival of Video on Demand streaming services in Kenya, coupled with the rapid growth and expansion of affordable first and efficient internet in different parts of the country.
Ndemo and Weiss observe the phenomenon of the transformation that has been brought by the Internet Revolution in Kenya business.
Innovations are destroying old ways of doing business, and smart young start-up entrepreneurs are at the forefront of this quiet but historical transformation. Teams of skilled developers and programmers have sprung up in innovation hubs, incubators, and accelerators across the country to build information and telecom solutions that capitalize on the country’s mix of challenges and opportunities. (1)
The manifestation of the observation above, in the film distribution business in Kenya, is, the proliferation of digital distribution of Motion pictures in Kenya through the digital platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Viusasa, has given rise to the new mediums of film distributions in Kenya that have transformed the landscape of the business of film distribution and broadcast in Kenya. A clinical look at the new mediums of motion picture distribution in Kenya such as YouTube, Netflix, and Viusasa, will enable to answer the thesis of how digital technology is transforming the distribution of motion picture in Kenya.
The democratization of Distribution: YouTube
YouTube hit its epiphany in 2005 when a clip of Lazy Sunday was uploaded on the platform, and the viewership increased to two million overnight; since then, that number increased to 500 billion views per day (Winograd and Hais 153). Since then YouTube has transformed the distribution of motion pictures around the world. The video-sharing platform has become the central online video platform of distribution. YouTube has always been a repository of free motion picture distribution and screening, making it one of the most significant broadcasts in the world and its popularity in the world. Compare to other Video on Demand service that requires subscription or pay per view.
The diffusion and adaptation of YouTube in Kenya as a distribution medium for local films, has transformed reception, dissemination, and screening of motion pictures in Kenya. With an average Kenyan spend more than three hours on YouTube (USIU 36), a manifestation of how YouTube is transforming Kenyans. The ability of YouTube distributes movies to different platforms from smartphones, to laptops and digital Television, has reconfigured the traditional business model of distribution of movies in Kenya.
Movie Producers in Kenya can efficiently distribute their Movies in Kenya through YouTube platforms as long as they can assess to fast internet and have an account with YouTube, which is free to open one. Hence any filmmaker in Kenya can distribute His/her movies through the YouTube platform, giving the freedom to all film producers to distribute any content. With the majority of Kenyans able to access YouTube in different platforms leading to its popularity among the Kenyan population and around the world.
The Huge reservoir of motion pictures available on YouTube, a manifestation of democratization of distribution of motion picture by the YouTube medium of distribution. Making the YouTube platform popular with consumers around the world with over one billion views per day, coupled with a variety of movies such as series, biopics available on the platform. As a result of both amateur and established film producers distributing their content on the YouTube platforms around the world. The fact that YouTube medium of distribution bypasses the film distributors, and it is a free platform of exhibition transforming consumer’s habits, affecting distributors of film, like Movie Rentals Shops, by directly distributing to the consumers at a free screening.
Television Release, and Home-Based Video distribution system. Simon noted this phenomenal of YouTube democratization as a revolution in the world of artistry, content, inventing with its inability to generate money (37). Threatening distribution of motion pictures in Kenya, which depended heavily on informal distribution through DVDs.Sarah YouTube becomes a revenue driver for most independent film producers. More film producers adopt the YouTube distribution channel in the long run. With video streaming services becoming a major revenue driver of the home video entertainment, resulting from declining from sales of DVDs (Yu et al. 1), a manifestation of the transformation of motion picture distribution by YouTube in Kenya. The rise of YouTubers in Kenya that distribute their content through YouTube directly bypassing the traditional method of distribution such as Television Broadcast, DVDs Rental. Furthermore, Cinema release, are the hallmarks of the revolution of the distribution of motion picture in Kenya. With the rapid diffusion and adaptation of YouTube distribution among Local Independent film producers.
YouTube transformation by creating its premium channel, for distributing its Premium original movies. That is available to consumers through its YouTube Premium subscription platform 2016 that already has distributed 30 films and series in its first year of launching (Kokalitcheva). A manifestation of digital technology transforming motion picture distribution and the increasing demand by the consumers in the digital platform, forcing YouTube to introduce new Premium services on the platform.
Netflix in Kenya
Netflix Inc. was established in 1997 as a DVD rental shop, which was ordered online And delivered by mail. The company transforms itself into a global company, of streaming movies, documentaries, television series, and animation, with over 60 million subscribers in 2015. Digital Entertainment Group examined that subscription on Video On Demand services is the largest revenue source for Home entertainment industry through distributing more than $ 5 billion studios in 2015(Digital Entertainment Group 6) As Video Streaming services becoming a revenue driver of the home entertainment industry, the result has been cannibalization of physical DVDs distribution that used to disseminate motion picture to the Home Entertainment Industries.
Netflix’s distribution of motion pictures around the world has revolutionized, distribution of movies through reconfiguring the window system of motion picture distribution. It replaced the physical walk to local video vendor shop with online browsing and Netflix movie recommendation engine the suggested movies for you to screen, rather than asking the local movie shop attended the latest movies, all from the comfort of your home. Netflix’s ability to distribute movies simultaneously in its platform and cinema (Master) transform the Window System of distribution, threatening to eliminate theatre release with more subscribers streaming at the comfort of their home.
Veteran Film Producer and Director Stephen Spielberg fear that Netflix will cannibalize the Cinema Theatre release in motion picture industry by asserting that he is “a firm believer that movie theatres need to be around forever.’’
An indication that Netflix is a threat to future theatre releases since Netflix subscribers might get discourage going to the cinema to screen a movie. In contrast, you can get the movie in the comfort of your living room. (Hans) It is such fears of the revolutionary nature that Netflix’s entry in the Kenyan market was welcome with both skepticism and Optimism.
Netflix was lunch in Kenya in 2016, with Kenyans on Twitter going viral with the news that Netflix has finally arrived in Kenya, giving competition Dstv, Zuku, Safaricom, and other players providing streaming services. The subscription of Netflix was also affordable at $7.99 compared to $ 10 and $ 100 charged by other players in the Kenya market. Its anticipated success forces the Kenyan Film Cooperation anxious that its promise to regulate Netflix (Walubengo). The fact that it was a new product launched in the Kenyan Market with its ramifications on the film industry yet identified by then.
Kenyan Film Industry distribution has been based on the Home Video Distribution business models through DVD Technology innovation as the distribution mediums, and partly Television Distribution. The entry of Netflix in Kenya meant stiff competition within the traditional method of film distribution such as Television broadcasts such as Cable Television like DStv, Zuku, and Star times that have channels dedicated to distributing motion pictures to Kenyan Audience. The entry of Netflix into Kenya meant fragmentation of the audience to the different digital platforms of distribution of motion pictures.
The arrivals of Netflix in Kenya can be a blessing to distributors in the short run, due lack of affordable and first internet in the rural part of the country, since Netflix Require massive broadband of internet to stream movies on their platform, that will consume most of their data if they were to stream through their mobile phone. But the expansion. Walubengo observes that the broadband Internet access to Kenya is quite high; the majority of Kenya is unable to get connected to the fiber in their houses. Thus Netflix highly rated show might be downloaded distributed as affordable DVDs
.Resulting in Movie Shop, vendors disseminate highly rated Netflix movies to consumers who are unable to subscribe to Netflix. Moreover, those who have access to the internet can download Netflix movies and share them with their friends through sites like flash disk, and DVDs with ought incurring broadband Internet cost still threatening DVD, Technology Distribution in the long run with the elimination of distribution of movies in Kenya.
The proliferation of Netflix Streaming in Kenya will likely add another nail in the coffin to the ailing informal film distribution in Kenya, with an increased influx of top-rated Hollywood soap and movies readily available on Netflix platform, those with a subscription with Netflix and accessed to fast internet will quickly download and share with friends through Flash disk, Hard drives and even phones, freely or cheaply eliminating the distributors’ role in the value chain in film distribution in Kenya. Thus the diffusion and adoption of Netflix mediums of distribution of movies in Kenya will result in democratizing illegal distribution of high rated Netflix movies at a freely, at the advantage of local distributors, movie vendors.
Netflix release model is one of the features that made Netflix a popular Streaming sites around the world, Netflix ability to give it exhibitors a unique screening experience, as it profiles its audience behavior, its ability to profile the audience enable it to produce and distribute movies tailored to their specific audience. Since it depends on subscription to generate revenue, it pays more attention to the audience preference (Sharma 28) The fact that Netflix can be distributed in portable mobile phone effectively eliminated the need for physical DVDs that you need a particular device to play threatening the elimination of Movies Shop Vendors in Kenya in the long run.
Mobile Phone Application; Distribution at Your Fingertips
Motion Picture consumption across the globe is rapidly occurring in digital platforms, translating in the number of devices capable of supporting the digital media as well as increasing internet access speed. Providing consumers with freedom of accessing motion picture of his/her choice anytime, and anywhere. Deloitte observes that smartphone has become the preferred medium of consuming digital online media (5). The mobile phone through the innovation of smartphone applications has been at the forefront in revolutionizing the distribution of motion picture at any time, and anywhere as long as you have internet access, and relevant application.
The total number of active internet /data subscriptions in Kenya was 42.2 million through mobile phones (CA 17). A manifestation that the majority of Kenyans got connected to the internet through mobile phone subscriptions. Mobile phone applications have become an indispensable factor in the daily lives of people in Kenya. Since the invention of the Mpesa innovation to the innovation of Viusasa application video-on-demand streaming that distributes indigenous films in local languages in Kenya through only mobile phones. With almost all television houses developing a mobile application to distribute their media through smartphones. This can be attributed to where a majority in Kenya consume digital media through mobile phones, Leading mobile phones to become a means of distributing and exhibiting motion pictures.
The investment of Safaricom, Telecom and Airtel in the into the 4G Network generation enable the audio-visual material to be streamed efficiently over their internet platforms with ought buffing. The recent rolling out of Safaricom 5G Network in Kenya is a manifestation of the profound impact of mobile phones in offering streaming services in Kenya. With the growth of the middle class in Kenya coupled with the millennia’s generation obsessed with social media as a source of entertainment, receiving news and streaming the latest movies through mobile phone applications, has propelled the growth of mobile phones as a medium of motion picture distribution in Kenya.
Mobile phone distribution compared to another medium of distribution of movies such as Television and Cinema distribution. Mobile phone distribution is more personal since there is no need to negotiate it uses with other family members, and it is portable; you can access it anywhere anytime as long as it is charged. These new services offered by the mobile phone distribution have transformed the consumers, leading to the popularity of the phone distribution medium while the decline in DVD sales as a result of phone distribution eliminating distributors.
Viusasa; Kenyan Response to Mobile Application
Digitization of motion pictures has democratized the distribution of movies. Local film producers in rural areas face high barriers in monetizing their creations as a result of a weak distribution system. Lack of movie theatres and pirated movies are the order of the day of distribution, as a result of an Affordable broadband connection in the country. The availability of cheap smartphones and innovations like Viusasa has transformed the distribution of indigenous film production, through mobile distribution medium.
The critical challenge to film distribution in Kenya, as it grows and expands, is the lack of formal distribution mediums that target a diverse audience of the Kenyan population. The invention of Viusasa (slang for watch now), a video-on-demand service, is a platform that distributes and exhibits local movies on the smartphone application, enabling users to screen local film production through their phones at their convenience. The mobile phone application is a subsidiary of Royal Media Services when it also distributes its new content and program for it Television Citizen, a manifestation of how Televisions are responding to disruptive innovation as a result of digitization of distribution of movies.
Mr. Waititu, the brain behind the Viusasa invention, says that the application was a result of the emerging market needs and the problems that producers of local movies faced in the distribution of their movies (Business Today Reporter). Viusasa has introduced a new dimension in marketing and distribution of indigenous Kenyan films, which has been characterized by informal film distribution, with poor marketing strategies by the indigenous film producers to reach their target audience. Kenya National Drama and Film Festivals started distributing and exhibiting their movies on the platform, an indication of its importance to the Kenya Film Industry.
Diang’a observed that Viusasa had transformed the distribution of motion picture in Kenya with its ability to disseminate indigenous film in all regions of the country and beyond. Creating a unique opportunity for audiences to screen indigenous content through indigenous languages via their mobile phone application (57). A niche market that was created by the failure by Netflix to screen indigenous film production on its platform. Its popularity in both rural and urban areas is a manifestation of its diffusion and adaptation by Kenyans.
Viusasa’s ability to bypass traditional distribution such as Theatre, Home Video Distribution, and Television release has changed the distribution of Kenya’s indigenous motion picture. Indigenous film producers use the self-distribution model of distribution, from House to House, Market days, Churches, and Local Television channels to distribute their films to their target audience base on the region, thus enabling the film producer to be rich the maximum target audience. While the elimination of such mediums by such Viusasa limits the film producer reach his/her target audience, since Viusasa is a mobile application, that only screen through the mobile phone only, with internet penetration in rural areas weak, laminating majority of Kenya in rural areas to access Viusasa platforms.
Poor distribution and marketing of indigenous motion picture in Kenya, has contributed to the influx of foreign movies from Hollywood, Nollywood, and Bollywood, through informal mass distribution channels in Kenya such as Riverwood. Though piracy has created fear among indigenous film producers in Kenya, lack of distribution channels has been an inhibiting factor leading to many indigenous upcoming filmmakers for their film to remain laptop. Thus Viusasa provides upcoming filmmakers to explore such channels of distribution; however, it should be ancillary distribution platforms. Diang’a observe that Viusasa has helped in fighting piracy through by bypassing the informal distribution channels (58). However, the same platform people can download movies and share them with other easily democratizing piracy in Kenya to another level.
The phone distribution of movies has opened new avenues for social media platforms for the distribution of motion pictures. Wegner state that Facebook is aggressively courting film producers, through offering incentives for producers for its watch product. (9) Facebook has already signed deals with companies such as Buzz Feed, Conde’ Nest, and Vox Media to produce original shows, to create a distribution medium of the motion picture. This will further transform the distribution landscape through smartphone applications, with the majority of Kenyans already using Facebook for distributing and consuming short motion picture product.
Conclusion
Digital Technologies has transformed the Kenyan distribution of motion picture landscape. It continued to transform the distribution of motion picture landscape. From a historical perspective, digital technology introduced a new medium of distribution, through the innovation DVD technology. It created the distribution model that the Kenyan Film Industry is based on. DVD technology has transformed the cinema distribution. It is eventually cannibalizing the distribution medium of Cinema in Kenya.
The government investment in Information Communication Technology enables the broadband width to be affordable. This enables the Over the Top Services providers to distribute a film over the internet to Kenyans. The availability of accessible first and efficient internet in Kenya opens avenues for film distribution over the internet. The arrival of Netflix in Kenya transformed internet-based distribution. The phone distribution medium has further brought distribution to the fingertips of the consumers.
New invention in digital technologies has reconfigured the distribution model of the motion picture. They tend to bypass the traditional mediums of distribution by directly distributing to the consumers, resulting in the elimination of the traditional medium of distribution in Kenya. The diffusion and adoption of these new mediums to various parts might result in the total elimination of this traditional method in Kenya.