Development Distribution? EU Aid for Formal Audiovisual Distribution and the Case of Africa’s First Video-on-Demand Platform

Abstract

This article examines the European Union’s support for formal distribution initiatives abroad, focusing on ACPCultures+, an economic development program that aims to grow the audiovisual industries of developing countries through the expansion and adaptation of the logics and mechanisms of intra-European media policies. While these distribution initiatives aim to challenge Hollywood’s reach in developing countries, their activities nevertheless foster the integration of audiovisual industries in developing countries into global media industries. At the same time, the program’s pairing of formal distribution and development aid is at times at odds with audience and industry expectations. Using data from policy documents, fieldwork in Brussels, and interviews with recipients of ACPCultures+ distribution project awards—including a detailed case study of Africa’s first VOD platform—I explore how these initiatives attempt to shape formal distribution in countries on the peripheries of large audiovisual industries.