MTV Base at 10: A culture of sustained excellence

In the terrain where fickle music business and prosaic broadcast business intersect, MTV Base’s legacy of excellence can be attributed to a single feature: uncompromising focus on quality content. From the moment the channel made its first broadcast of Innocent ‘2Face’ Idibia’s ‘African Queen’ on DSTV Channel 88 to the redefining era brought about by […]

In the terrain where fickle music business and prosaic broadcast business intersect, MTV Base’s legacy of excellence can be attributed to a single feature: uncompromising focus on quality content. From the moment the channel made its first broadcast of Innocent ‘2Face’ Idibia’s ‘African Queen’ on DSTV Channel 88 to the redefining era brought about by MTV Africa Music Award (MAMA), MTV Base Africa has been unmistakable about its mission: ‘showcasing Africa to the world’ in its most authentic form.
Birthing the vision
Armed with ‘just’ determination to succeed and sterling academic records after a string of scholarly exploits in the United States of America, Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President of MTV Networks Africa, then a young graduate was able to secure a high profile placement with Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN). His rise to the Viacom’s top echelon afforded him the influence and opportunity to propose the MTV Base Africa.
After some initial hesitancy and ambivalence, VIMN agreed to flow with Okosi’s conviction more on the need to complete the MTV global picture since every region of the world but Africa had MTV presence. Eventually, Okosi scaled the approval hurdle; and behold, MTV Base Africa was birthed.
Let the show begin
MTV Base Africa’s first and biggest challenge it had to surmount was the poor quality of African music videos, which ordinarily were going to form the bulk of 30 percent African content quota. Changing the game was the only option available; as such, the channel embarked on a series of trainings for artistes, producers and directors in its key markets. It even went as far as creating free music videos for a number of artistes.
MTV Base has not only grown powerful and influential in many ramifications, its flagship reality show, MTV Base VJ Search which has produced some of Africa’s biggest VJs, including Sizwe Dhlomo, Fikile Moeti, Cynthia Okpala, Nomuzi Mabena, and Ehizojia ‘Ehiz’ Okoeguale.
MAMA changed the game
In November 2008, MTV Base achieved a milestone by launching the first ever MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) in Abuja, Nigeria, in celebration of contemporary African music and artistes. The high-profile event immensely helped talented African artistes to raise their international profile. The award has since taken a giant leap from 2010 when it was last hosted. Its 2014 and 2015 editions in Durban have been the most colourful event in Africa till date.
Today, MTV base is available across Africa in 50 countries, including Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Burundi, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.