Chinese tech giant, Tencent Holdings Ltd. is eyeing Africa as a potential market to grow its paid music streaming service Joox. This comes five years after the inception of Joox.
Joox has been a hit in the Asian market, and the company seeks to reciprocate the same in Africa’s most populous countries.
So far, Tencent Holdings’ strategy that has borne fruits in Asia has been to target immature emerging markets, and now the Chinese gaming giant wants to use the same to try and gain a foothold in the African market.
“There are a lot of local labels and artists that are big in Africa, but the whole digitalisation journey is not even there,” said Poshu Yeung, vice president of Tencent’s international business group in an interview.
“Rather than go fighting for the pie, it’s better to build a pie.”
This is by entering markets in which music streaming giants like Spotify haven’t yet explored. In Africa, Joox is already available in South Africa, which served as a testing ground for their entry in Africa.
Nigeria, which is currently ranked as Africa’s biggest economy, is likely the next market for Joox, according to Yeung, citing the “abundance of musical talent and big potential user base.”
Profitability
Although not yet profitable, Joox has grown over five-folds or 533 percent since its inception in 2015. The company’s key markets to date are in Asia which recorded massive growth last year in the number of paying subscribers (between 30 to 50 percent).
