Press review: Adweknow – the letter of 12 November 2018 “Interview with Alain Konian Kodjo, Managing Director of Pixafrica”

What’s your background ?

I’m Franco-Ivorian, born in Ivory Coast. I started my professional career in a startup and very quickly joined Bouygues Télécom in the Consumer Marketing department as product manager for pricing and business planning. Four years later, I joined the Strategy department, in the 3-year business plan (3YP), where I was in charge of the “top of the operating account”. After three years at 3YP, I returned to consumer marketing with responsibility for coordinating the performance process of CODIR Marketing. I ended my experience at Bouygues télécom in the corporate department where I was responsible for product values with the management of a budget of more than 30 million euros. In this position, I managed the pricing policy for devices for both SMEs and large national accounts. It was this experience, BtoB, that made me want to start an entrepreneurial career. In 2013, I chose to launch my own consulting firm Kairos Technologies, driven by the ambition to work with Africa. My five years of entrepreneurship took place between Paris and Abidjan via Douala in Cameroon. Last September, I decided to settle permanently in Abidjan by starting a mission for one of the four private DTT channels, 7info, which should be launched soon. In October, I had the opportunity to take over the general management of Pixafrica. A great opportunity and a very exciting challenge in the current context of the audiovisual sector in Côte d’Ivoire.

Today, how would you describe Pixafrica’s activity ?

Pixagility is the technical link between content publishers and broadcasters that are TV channels or operators, our activities are grouped around five major businesses:

• Contribution or transport: transporting a channel from one place to another via our 2 teleports in Abidjan and Boulogne but also via innovative solutions for transporting video streams over the Internet. Between Paris and Abidjan, we capture more than a thousand channels that can be made available to players all over the world. We are currently providing this service to Orange Côte d’Ivoire for its TV bouquet offer.
• Playout, which is a broadcast control room service. We are able to make a TV channel from the content provided to us by our partner and to transmit this material in different formats according to the initial request. In Abidjan, we manage the playout of the EDAN channel for example.
• VOD and replay. We ensure all the phases of technical transformation of the programs between their release from the studios and their publication to the different platforms.

In this area, the group supports clients such as France Télévisions, beIN Sport and, in Côte d’Ivoire, Orange CI’s VOD.

• OTT: We offer an “end-to-end” solution that includes a robust back office that embeds all the elements that make up an IPTV or mobile TV service (iOS or Android) in order to make it easily operational and with a high-quality customer experience.
• Editorial animation: this is an editorial animation service for the On Demand, VOD, REPLAY and EST services of our partners. Pixagility helps its clients to make their On Demand shops more dynamic.

These are the activities that punctuate the daily life of the Paris hub and that technology transfer allows to do in Abidjan today. In Pixagility’s vision, Pixafrica is the “factory” of the group. Abidjan is the second ” hub ” of the group. The context of the development of DTT in French-speaking Africa, will allow us to highlight our expertise in all these businesses. The Ivorian market is and will be a priority initially and beyond mid-2019, our ambition will be to prospect on the continent.

What is your vision of Pixafrica’s development as a general manager?

The principle of Pixafrica is to define with its current partners a real relationship of value development in co-construction. We are capable of bringing technological added value to the services we provide on a daily basis but also of project management for audiovisual projects. In terms of services, OTT is an axis that we intend to privilege in Abidjan and on the continent. Indeed, we believe that the mobile is a vector of communication that is going to become more and more important and several studies show this. The penetration rate of smartphones, the downward trend in the price of data and the public’s appetite for this channel are all factors that encourage us to focus on this part of our business. Pixagility is also significantly strengthening its presence on the continent, in addition to our Abidjan Hub, by signing a new Point of Presence (POP) in South Africa with Teraco.

What are your ambitions in terms of development ?

The context of DTT development in French-speaking Africa will enable us to showcase our expertise in all these businesses. The Ivorian market is and will be a priority initially. During the first half of 2019, our ambition will be to consolidate our activities in Côte d’Ivoire as well as our relations with our customers. Thereafter, our ambition will be to develop Pixafrica’s activities during the second half of 2019 on the continent, starting with the sub-region. Today we already have contacts with prospects in West Africa, in countries such as Cameroon or Kenya. Source : https://adweknow.com