Kenyans have constantly been ranked as among the top consumers of social media time globally, with people in the country spending an average of almost four hours daily on social media platforms.

We are a country that is hungry for content.

“What if you put great local content in front of them? Instead of them consuming things on other platforms, they start consuming a lot more things from home. Imagine the ripple effects on the Kenyan creative ecosystem,” muses Mbugua Njihia, the founder of  Symbiotic Media.

Symbiotic Media is the company behind Pasha, a video-on-demand service by Symbiotic Media.

Abel Mutua has seen that hunger for content first hand. He is the co-founder of PhilIt Productions, whose productions are available online at a fee.

While they have cracked the distribution puzzle by using the mobile phone to reach millions, Abel feels the cost of mobile data has remained an obstacle.

“We have a platform where we showcase our movies, and our customers are just the best. They’re very loyal, but I kind of feel like we’re punishing them a lot. Because we charge them for the movie and then they use their data bundles to watch, which can be costly,” explains Abel.

Through its own BAZE platform and through distribution platforms like Pasha by Symbiotic Media, Safaricom seeks to make content available easily and affordably.

“Safaricom is making sure that Kenyan and African content can be aggregated and distributed in a way that many more people are able to see it,” explained Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi, the Chief Consumer Business Officer at Safaricom.

Fawzia was speaking during the screening of Kipkemboi, a Kenyan Canadian thriller-drama,  that was held at the Michael Joseph Centre at the Safaricom headquarters.

Under the package developed by Safaricom, KES 100 gets one a 30-day pass while KES 150 gets one the bundled offer of a 30-day pass for the movie and 1.5GB GB data. Customers can access the pass via USSD *544*46#.

Watch the video to learn more about Kipkemboi.