If you want free and relevant African-focused, local content delivered by a cool brand, watch Tuluntulu. By Gugu Lourie
Tuluntulu, which is an African mobile video on demand (VOD) service, has been selected by Interbrand as a global ‘break through’ brand.
The inaugural Breakthrough Brands, and the Future Growth Report celebrates a new breed of upstarts and challengers, the next generation of brands that are reshaping the market and embody a critical characteristic—growth.
“Breakthroughs reflect the times we are in—the Age of You— when brands and businesses need to move faster than ever before. That’s because they are expected to move at the speed of people’s demands—at the speed of their lives. It’s an age defned by the fact that people want to be in control or, more specifcally, to personally design the lives they want to live,” says Interbrand.
It added that the most successful emerging companies put people at the center of their business. They know that people hold brands to incredibly high expectations—for better choices, richer experiences, meaningful narratives, one-on-one attention, new form factors, and personal progress and fulfillment. They understand how data and technology change the definition of service and connectivity and the demand from people for greater and more nuanced choices.
Breakthroughs translate their unique models or platforms into experiences that catch the attention of the public.
Tuluntulu is a South African-based brand providing services across the African continent and truly embodies characteristics of global ‘break through’ brand.
Launched in August 2014, Tuluntulu targets audiences in Africa, and globally, with African focused content delivered on its mobile content platform.
The Tuluntulu app can be downloaded for free from the Google Play and App stores.
The app has been downloaded over 460,000 times in 154 countries.
The cumulative usage numbers of the Tuluntulu app since launch in August 2014 has reached over 15 million screen views with over 3 million sessions.
In the past 30 days, the app had received 37 000 monthly unique users and over 600,000 screen views, and about 90% of its users return back to the platform.
Tuluntulu is popular with users in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania.
The usage is free (no subscriptions), 100% free on Wi-Fi, with data costs only if connected via a mobile network (low data setting consumes +-50MB/hr). The “FREE” business model is designed to maximize audience reach and engagement.
The platform currently has 26 x 24/7 streaming TV channels; Entertainment (Africa365), News (tNews4U, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, France24), Education (SABC Education, BrainBoosters, Spark4U, VTC), Documentaries (Afridocs), Movies (Nolly4U), Series (AfrikTales), Sport (AfricaSport4U), eSports (OPTV), Fashion (Fleur), Lifestyle (Africa4U), Children (SABC Children), Comedy (Good4U), Music (Mafrik), Shopping (VerimarkTV), Public information (BetterLife4U, Health4U), Religion (Elev8), and French (TV5 Monde, Mandinka). Tuluntulu also has over 20 streaming radio stations broadcasting in English, French, Hausa, Portuguese, and Kiswahili.
Last year, Tuluntulu was named by the Unilever Foundry 50 as one of the top 50 start-ups in the world.
The first, and only one from Africa.
The inaugural Unilever Foundry 50 is an initiative to find the world’s top 50 marketing technology startups that are innovating to help brands better connect, engage and relate with people.
Clearly, the company is delivering on its promise to offer great content in the palm of your hand 24/7.
Being selected for the Interbrand Breakthrough Brands is another great achievement for a company founded by Pierre van der Hoven, a serial media entrepreneur who was involved in starting numerous media companies including eTV, and YFM.
“When we started on the journey of Interbrand Breakthrough Brands, our objective was very simple: to create a stage for emerging brands—especially the ones that are really effecting change and embodying growth,” says Paola Norambuena, chief content officer at Interbrand.
“So we set out to discover and celebrate the next generation of brands—the startups, upstarts, challengers, problem solvers, innovators, and category creators. The brands that are the evidence of how our cultures, behaviors, and planet evolve. The ones that will impact generations and define progress. The ones that are making it happen.”
Together with Facebook, NYSE, and Ready Set Rocket, Interbrand set out to uncover these brands by activating their joint network of infuencers—those with an inherent ability to spot brilliant ideas in every region of the world. And so, Interbrand Breakthrough Brands was born.
