AfriCam, once seen as SA`s most innovative e-business success story, has confirmed that its AfriCam SA service company has applied for provisional liquidation.
Webcam AfriCam provides the services that operate the africam.com Web site, which shows live images of wildlife on the Internet.
CEO Peter Armitage cites declining advertising revenues and a sharp decline in traffic since the 11 September terrorist attacks as being among the factors contributing to the move. "Our subscription revenues have slowed down dramatically in the last month and negotiations have been delayed," says Armitage.
"Our major funder reneged on his commitment earlier in the year and, despite a great deal of interest, we have been unable to secure sufficient funding to continue operating."
Armitage indicates that the Web site will probably continue operating in a scaled-down form. "The directors of AfriCam in Cyprus will have to decide what form the scaled down site will take. The subsidiaries of AfriCam Cyprus - wildlifecampus.com and safari.net - will continue operating as usual."
Armitage is hopeful that the situation can still be resolved positively. "We are in negotiations with a number of interested parties," he says.
The news comes only a year after AfriCam was rated as the top South African company involved in e-business in the first annual Bain FM E-Index. The index was compiled by rating local e-business companies on their business impact and sustainability, innovation and business technology, execution and proven revenue track record, and level and source of funding.
While the AfriCam offering has proved highly popular among Web surfers, the costs of setting up and maintaining the cameras and streaming infrastructure have proved huge. In addition to live streaming from South African game reserves, AfriCam also has specialised services such as reef cams and shark cams. Cameras were recently set up in the US, Brazil and the Bahamas at great additional expense.
With an audited page impression rate of over 30 million a month, AfriCam used its high exposure to establish other ventures, such as AfriShop (currently closed); AfriMusic; AfriCam Travel; Safari.net, a safari bookings initiative; WildFocus, a photography portal; and WildLife Campus, an online education portal.
However, AfriCam admitted earlier this year that Internet streaming alone was not profitable, and partnerships were cemented with television producers.
In May this year, AfriCam and BBC announced a new deal to take live scenes from the African bush to television viewers. The deal, intended to swell AfriCam`s coffers by several million rand, was to be called AfriCam`s Live and Wild, and was to be broadcast daily on BBC`s Uktv and A2A channel on DStv.
In another television-related initiative in September, AfriCam partnered with TV production company Endemol to produce a reality programme based on real-life survival skills. The show, Savages, saw six volunteers living off the bush in Djuma Game Reserve and Sabi Sand Game Reserve for two weeks. Their experiences were streamed live on AfriCam. The concept was to be applied to television early next year, if it proved popular.
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