Local Web portal, Howzit MSN has expanded its reach into the rest of the continent with the rollout of a dedicated channel for Africa.
Marcus Stephens, Howzit MSN's GM, says: “The time is ripe for us to expand more aggressively in Africa because the audience for local Web content and the advertiser support are growing rapidly as Internet access becomes cheaper and more widespread.”
Stephens estimates that Nigeria alone offers a potential market of 43 million people with some form of Internet access - nearly as many people as the entire South African population, and up from only 200 000 Internet users in 2000.
According to Stephens, Africa's economic progress over the past decade has caught the attention of South African and multinational companies that want to market their products and services to the continent's fast-growing middle class.
Microsoft will redirect African traffic from its global MSN property to the Howzit MSN African channel. Microsoft says it aims to help users find a wealth of localised content across topics such as business, local and international news, travel, lifestyle, and technology.
Microsoft's advertising and online lead, Nazeer Suliman, points out that growing reach in Anglophone markets within sub-Saharan Africa is an easy win for MSN, given its strong position in these markets and the complementary strength of Microsoft's Windows Live suite of consumer cloud services.
Howzit SA has identified key markets, such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Ghana. The African channel complements the Windows Live advertising inventory that Howzit MSN offers across 49 countries in Africa. Advertisers that have already signed on for the new Howzit MSN African channel include Samsung and MTN.
Published by Kagiso Media, Howzit MSN is the South African associate of Microsoft's MSN family of Internet services. Howzit MSN's African channel forms a key component of Kagiso's plan to expand its presence across the continent.
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