MTN launches Africa’s ‘first custom YouTube channel’

Mobile networking giant MTN has launched the first custom YouTube channel in Africa, something which it hopes will give it an edge in a tough industry with massive ad spend budgets.

Custom channels, first unveiled in 2011, allow brands to customise their subscriber engagement and have been used by big brands as well as celebrities such Madonna, Ashton Kutcher, Amy Poehler and Tony Hawk as means of pushing original content.

While any advertiser can use YouTube, custom channels provide additional powerful features for brands who want to do something beyond the ordinary. Some exciting examples include the channels for Tequila flavoured beer brand Desparados and power tool company Black & Decker, which are completely interactive.

MTN says it’s customised the look and feel of its channel to “increase brand awareness” and control its content discovery to suit the type of campaign, event or location. It also believes that the two-way communication YouTube allows for will enable it to build relationships and get feedback from its customers on a continuous basis.

“As MTN, we’re excited to be first brand in Africa to launch its own Youtube custom channel,” says the company’s chief marketing officer Serame Taukobong. The channel, he says, bears testament to MTN’s “commitment to delivering a bold new digital world to our customers”.

“Our excitement,” he adds, “not only stems from the fact that the MTN brand will take pole position in terms of visibility and presence, but also because we will be able to feed the hunger for fresh and current content to the bustling online community”.

According to Google SA Country Director Luke Mckend “MTN is leading the way as the first brand in Africa to create a custom channel” on YouTube. “Even though MTN is a pan African operator, YouTube gives MTN the flexibility to custom and localise their content for different parts of the continent”, he says.