Telenovela Business: Making money out of drama

With millions of audience, the telenovelas have also been used effectively by media houses in Ghana to amass wealth.

Telenovelas, or television dramas, have dominated the Ghanaian media industry since their inception .

Melodramatic and inspirational, they follow the story of a heroine or couple who have to overcome obstacles before the compulsory happy ending.

It mostly includes themes of betrayal, tragedy and love.

For those who may not know what a telenovela is, here is a little education to help: It is a limited-run serial dramatic programming quite distinct from   soap operas, for telenovelas come to an end after a long run (generally less than one year).

Telenovelas are produced primarily in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries and are usually shown during prime time.

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The medium has been used repeatedly to transmit socio-cultural messages by incorporating them into storylines. They are also popular in the Philippines and North America.

Quite recently, all TV stations have been flooded with the likes of ‘El clon’ (The Clone),  ‘Lola Calamidades’ (Lola Calamities), ‘En nombre del  Amor’ (In the Name of Love), ‘La tormenta’  (The Torment), ‘Corazon Salvaje’ and many more in the offing.

How lucrative is the Telenovela business ?

With millions of audience, telenovelas have also been used effectively to amass wealth for media houses in Ghana.

There are mostly treated as commercial products which receive advertisements and sponsors from corperate Ghana.

Media gurus say they are able to develop programs around telenovelas which attract lots of sponsorship which is good money.

A current running telenovela called kumkum bhagya has over twenty (20) sponsors

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But why foreign soaps and dramas for at the expense of local content?

Some media houses who spoke to Pulse said the price to pay for local content is much way expense as compared to local content.

According to media expert Dr Godfred Akoto, the amount of money charged by film makers for ten local episode drama series is likely to be more expense that a hundredth episodes foreign soap.

This he believes although may be killing the business of local film makers yet it is pure business.

The profit is enormous.

With millions of audience, the telenovelas have also been used effectively by media houses in Ghana to amass wealth. Read Full Story