Royal Viusasa
Media ink
Services, media
convergence deal
B y J ames N done
Viusasa offers video, music and live TV
channels, where viewers can subscribe
and pay depending on the packages
available. “The first thing we do is look for a
market for your content. We then
distribute the videos to ensure
everyone who is supposed to get
them does receive them. We also
educate people that the videos are
available. That is the general work of
the company,” he says in a short video
produced by Citizen TV, which was
posted on YouTube last year ahead of
Viusasa’s launch.
According to Business Today, Viusasa
is owned by former Steadman Group’s
(now Ipsos-Synovate) managing
director George Tafaria Waititu. The content is then put on a mobile
app, which was launched last year,
and is, thereafter, availed at a small
subscription fee of Ksh20 daily.
Mr Waititu says the aim of Viusasa is
to exploit the opportunity provided
by the transition to digital media by
offering a medium that brings together
print, TV and radio, a concept called
media convergence in the journalism
parlance. He said the decision to
launch the new medium was informed
by research conducted over several
years to address emerging market
needs and problems that producers of
short videos face. There was a rumour making rounds
that Viusasa is owned by senior
RMS employees, a notion that did
not gel well with the organisation’s
management on a conflict of interest
basis.
Royal Media Services (RMS) has struck
a deal with subscription video and
on-demand media platform Viusasa
that will see viewers access media
content through the Viusasa mobile
app.
RMS has been running an aggressive
media campaign to draw people
to the new short video on demand
platform, which also streams its live
broadcasts at a fee. Citizen TV has
since terminated live streaming of its
TV online, except on matters of huge
public interest.
Viusasa has also lined up a series of
high-profile celebrities to join the
fast-growing platform. Among those
who have already signed up with
Viusasa is comedian Daniel Ndambuki
of the Churchill Live fame and veteran
journalist Hillary Ng’eno, who has
produced various documentaries on
Kenya’s history.
The company has also partnered
with the Kenya Film Classification
Board to promote short format films
in local languages under the Sinema
Mashinani programme and encourage
compliance with film and broadcast
content distribution regulations.
Viusasa (slang for watch now),
produces its short comedy shows at
the Royal Media studios in Kiswahili,
English and various local languages.
Viusasa also offers an archive of various
soap operas and local programmes
shown on Citizen TV.
F i l a m u K e n y a PA G E 6 n o w p l a y i n g