TRACE, a market leader in afro-urban music and entertainment, has acquired a 70percent stake in Kenya’s Qwetu Radio and rebranded it into Trace Radio 95.3 FM, a music-only radio station.
Qwetu Director Victoria Anampiu, will maintain a 30% stake.
According to Olivier Laouchez, Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Trace worldwide, the company inherits Qwetu Radio’s estimated 4% market share in the urban music and entertainment category in Kenya.
“Our vision is to increase this, to become the music radio market leader in Kenya by 2022. With Trace Radio 95.3, we are currently working to build a sustainable business model after which we will introduce a diverse range of products and platforms targeting the growing interest in urban music and entertainment culture in Kenya,” he said.
The new products, Trace Radio 95.3 FM Trace Gospel and Trace Play now join Trace Mziki which is already available in the East African region.
Welcome to TRACE THE RADIO
Now available on 95.3 Nairobi, Mombasa 92.0, Kisumu 99.1, Webuye 98.0, Eldoret 99.09, Meru 99.8 FM.The New Beat in the East.#trace_ea pic.twitter.com/63TumVa0hk
— TRACE FRANCE (@trace_france) November 6, 2019
The company has also introduced Trace Play, a video on demand platform, in Kenya and the East African region. Trace Play is available at a subscription of $2.99 per month and $29.99 per year.
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Founded in 2003, TRACE is a global multi-platform media and entertainment company that reaches 200 million viewers and listeners across 160 countries.
Content on the platform includes Afro Urban TV shows, films and documentaries. It also has original productions, cult movies, series, documentaries and animated films made by the best urban artists and creators from America, Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe.
Following the conclusion of the acquisition, Trace has set up its East African hub in Westlands in Nairobi that will be led by Danny Mucira as the MD for the East Africa cluster.
According to GeoPoll Kenya TV And Radio Audience Data: February 2019, Kenya has a high number of radio stations, including many regional stations which means only a few stations have a high share when looking at country-wide data.
In terms of top stations, GeoPoll data shows that nationwide from February 1-14, Radio Citizen was the leading station with 13% share followed by Radio Maisha with 10% and Radio Jambo in third place with 9% share.
