1. As a Media Business Executive, Post Covid-19 lockdown, what are the lessons you have learnt as regards content creation and audience engagement to drive revenue?
What not only I have learnt but what everyone has gotten an incline on if not learnt at least seen a bit is that content can no longer be seen as a side or by-product. It is the service that humans depend on. The power of digital to connect is more present and directly in our face than before. What that has meant for me as a media executive is to listen and speak to the audience as much as possible to see what they truly want and watch what they want rather than going with preconceived notions that may not be what they want to do but what the consumers want. For example, like Big Brother, they’ve nailed it. It’s an absolute institution and proof of listening to the audience and giving them what they need.
2. The New Media is disrupting the usual practice of Traditional media, what do you recommend as best practice to manage audience retention?
First of all, yes, New Media as digital overall through the years has changed a lot of industries but for many industries, it has become complimentary depending on at what stage. In the West, New Media is proving to be complimentary. In Africa and in other emerging markets, with limited access, etc, it’s complimentary but Traditional Media is still leading but what I recommend is, very early on now for Traditional Media to get going if they haven’t and truly integrating New media as part of the mix not just as an add on.
3. In some spheres, you have been described as an Astute Business Man, what would you describe as your strategic business model?
I’d say my model is to try my best to listen to customers, clients, partners, staff, and colleagues. One person cannot possibly have a view on everything going on even in a small/very small business. From the starting point of listening to clients and customers. For us, at TRACE it’s our viewers and also the brands that advertise with us. What do they want? because it’s very easy for a business leader to think he/she has a great idea for some content and has been wanting to do it for a while for a TV, etc but the business leader is only thinking of himself/herself, his or her experiences and not looking to the wider market. For TRACE we spend a lot of time talking to clients about what they need to reach their customers, talking to our viewers about what they want to see, looking at what our viewers are watching, and going to that. So, looking externally is a key to how I try and operate, and that includes internally. I’ll tell you that the best ideas come from some of the most inexperienced young staff because they are looking from a completely different perspective than I ever could. To add to looking at and thinking from the other person’s perspective whether it’s a client or customer or staff is trying to align incentives. Aligning incentives by making sure that both party objectives are going to the same place. Because, if they are going to the same place, I’m truly helping my customer and he has no reason to go anywhere or come from a different angle because what’s good for me is good for my customer.
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4. You are the MD of a visual content distribution company, how do you manage creatives with a “disruptive creative approach”?
TRACE is a lot more than a visual content distribution company. We are traditional and core businesses around channel distribution and advertising which is a visual content distribution company.
How do I manage creatives with a disruptive creative approach? You give them all the tools and the framework to be able to work within. I want to hear ideas (though I’m not the actual person to listen to the ideas), completely disrupting approaches to creating content, delivering content to advertising for our clients, etc. But, I don’t want to hear an idea about creating a Tv show for football scores (maybe we would). For a much deeper example, I don’t want to hear a TV show about how the offshore oil industry feeds into the upstream and the details of that. That’s far outside what we do; we’re music and entertainment so, we provide a framework within long-form, short-form content around music, music interests, culture, empowerment, what pieces of the pie that content has to touch on. It needs to speak to the audience and be around our areas of interest. But, within that, go crazy, be disruptive.
5. In a country going through economic challenges, how do you manage commercialization of content versus quality/original intended idea?
Well, the whole world is going through economic challenges brought by the pandemic. But, when it comes to Nigeria or emerging markets, specifically Nigeria, I think managing the commercialization of content is very straight forward to me. The market wants all sorts of content but the market is limited so creativity in the content itself and how it’s made is important. But, the most important is making sure that the investment in content has a real possibility of delivering a return on investment. Create to fit the market and use creativity to do that.
6. What would you describe as the influence of music in addressing societal ills in relation to the #EndSARS protest?
One incredible thing about music is that you may love your range rover, egusi soup, or okra soup but the love for music is somewhat internal, more spiritual, more of a connection to our souls, and because of that power of music and the musicians, music has an incredible effect on the world from time memorial. The influence of music is powerful, important and it’s moving.
7. What is your view on the control of the media by the government?
Clearly Nigeria and many emerging markets specifically Africa have had varying degrees of the media. Usually, where they get sensitive is when the talk about criticism arises. On one side criticizing the government isn’t that much help but it’s more helpful to try and stimulate people to action, to make a change but that said, I think the government control of media limits creativity. It’s like trying to impose a government on the free market. There are clear lines that should be drawn but I think that it’s a discussion with media organizations because at the same time, close to that line is where good things happen.
