Content creators set to reap from Baze

Sylvia Mulinge

Safaricom’s Chief Customer Relations Officer Sylvia Mulinge (second right) with artistes Cartoon Comedian, Flaqo, King Kaka and Crazy Kennar during the launch of Baze at the Michael Joseph Centre on May 27, 2021.

Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Safaricom is looking to tap into the large smartphone users market with the service.
  • Telco says the platform will give customers the convenience of accessing a vast collection of video content.

Artistes and entertainers now have a new platform to sell their content after Safaricom unveiled a service that enables consumers to buy videos on demand.

Baze is a mobile-first, video-on-demand service that will offer a wide selection of local and regional short-form videos in comedy, drama, lifestyle and music, among others. Artistes will earn 60 per cent of the revenue.

Safaricom’s Chief Customer Officer Sylvia Mulinge said the platform will give customers the convenience of accessing a vast collection of video content, including first-run exclusives, on their smartphones.

“Our goal is to delight our customers by availing a carefully curated collection of video content across their favourite genres. Baze will place the entertainment Kenyans want at their fingertips, giving users freedom, choice and control over the content they consume.”

According to Ms Mulinge, they got the name for the service after interacting with customers. 
Meet and chill

“If you know what a “base” is in the estates, it’s a place where people meet and chill. So what we did was to just retake the name that Kenyans know and we want them to come here and interact with real Kenyan stories.”

Content creators have been sharing their journeys and insightful tips about how to create memorable content on Safaricom’s YouTube and Facebook pages. 

Mission To Rescue

Creators such as Flaqo, Bien, Wahu and Mugambi Nthiga have shared gems that other creators can tap into. 

“This is a commitment we made to the creators that they have to bring their content to us. However, we cannot fund them but what we are doing is helping those who already have content to repurpose for the platform. We committed to support six creators to the tune of Sh2 million,” said Head of Digital Products and Partnerships Fawzia Ali.

Safaricom has also partnered with Mission To Rescue, a brand new Kenya action film that will premiere exclusively on the video streaming platform on June 1. 

“It will be on the platform for three months before being unveiled anywhere else,” added Ms. Mulinge. 

Kenyan content creators across all genres have been urged to submit their original content for consideration. The genres are: entertainment (comedy, kids, drama), lifestyle and culture (travel, food, fashion, fitness, DIY, mom & baby), factual, news and documentary, faith, sports and music.

Digital video streaming in Kenya has been dominated by international sites such as YouTube, Netflix and Vimeo, with local products such as ViuSasa and Airtel TV steadily gaining ground.

Safaricom is looking to tap into a mobile phone market that has about 18 million smartphone users.