The entertainment landscape for African youth is shifting dramatically as Trace positions itself as the sole remaining global network fully dedicated to Afro Urban culture, following Paramount’s reported discontinuation of BET International and MTV Base alongside several MTV branded awards shows.
The announcement marks both a significant transition in how Black culture reaches audiences worldwide and a new responsibility for Trace to champion African creativity across television and digital platforms.
Trace Urban recently won recognition as the “Coolest TV Channel” at the Sunday Times Generation Next Awards in South Africa, an accolade measuring youth culture influence over the past decade. The award validates Trace’s brand power among young Africans who are increasingly difficult to reach through traditional media channels.
“When we started Trace 22 years ago, there was no TikTok, no AI, no creator economy,” said Olivier Laouchez, Co Founder, Chairman and CEO of Trace. The world has changed dramatically since then. Audiences have shifted their consumption habits, creators now drive culture rather than simply responding to it, and old broadcast systems struggle to keep pace with these transformations.
That reality explains why Trace believes in what Laouchez calls a hybrid model, uniting linear television and digital platforms into one powerful ecosystem. It’s not about abandoning television or diving entirely into streaming; it’s about recognizing that today’s audiences move fluidly between screens and expect content to follow them wherever they go.
The company’s growth trajectory wouldn’t have been possible without sustained support from broadcast partners DSTV (owned by MultiChoice, which Canal Plus recently acquired) and Canal Plus itself. These partnerships played crucial roles in bringing Afro Urban culture to millions of homes across Africa, building Trace into a trusted entertainment brand for the continent’s young generation.
“We are proud of our long standing partnership with DSTV and Canal Plus,” Laouchez added. Together, they’ve built a platform reflecting the energy, diversity, and talent of Africa’s youth, both on television and increasingly in digital spaces through Trace Plus, the company’s streaming platform.
Trace Plus represents the next phase in the company’s evolution, described as more than just another streaming service. It’s being positioned as the digital home of Afro Urban culture, where entertainment meets empowerment and creators can own both their narratives and their revenues. That last point matters significantly. Too often, African creators generate enormous value for platforms based elsewhere while capturing only a fraction of the economic benefits.
The platform combines television’s reach and trust with digital innovation and interactivity, creating opportunities for African and diaspora talent that didn’t exist before. Creators can stream content, learn production skills, connect with audiences, and actually earn money from their work, all within a single ecosystem designed specifically for their needs.
To accelerate this transformation, Trace has partnered with ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, through its technology division BytePlus. The partnership will power Trace Plus with advanced streaming technology and data driven personalization, the kind of sophisticated algorithmic recommendation systems that have made TikTok so effective at connecting creators with audiences.
“ByteDance is the world’s leading engine of the creator economy,” Laouchez said. Together, they’re building what he calls the future home of Afro Urban creativity, a place where Africa’s next generation of creators can connect with global audiences without compromising their authentic voices or losing control of their content.
The strategic implications extend beyond simple technology provision. BytePlus brings expertise in recommendation engines, computer vision, video processing, and machine learning that typically requires massive investment to develop independently. By partnering rather than building from scratch, Trace can focus resources on content and creator support while leveraging world class technology infrastructure.
Paramount’s pullback from international Afro Urban programming creates both opportunity and pressure for Trace. Being the only remaining global network dedicated to this cultural space means carrying responsibility for representing diverse African voices, supporting emerging talent, and ensuring that Black culture as expressed across Africa and its diaspora maintains visibility on the world stage.
The company operates 30 localized TV channels, radio stations, and digital platforms alongside educational initiatives. Through these assets, Trace claims to empower 350 million young people and creators across more than 190 countries. That’s an enormous reach, reflecting how African music, fashion, and cultural expression have become genuinely global phenomena rather than niche interests.
Trace’s partnerships with the music industry, DSTV, Canal Plus, and now ByteDance position it to redefine how the world experiences and celebrates Black culture. However, maintaining that position requires continuous adaptation as audience preferences evolve, new platforms emerge, and competition for attention intensifies.
The Sunday Times Generation Next Awards recognition carries particular weight because it’s based on how youth actually think about and engage with brands, not just industry opinion. For a generation of consumers who are harder to reach and more skeptical of traditional marketing, being named coolest in any category represents authentic cultural relevance.
The hybrid model Trace is pursuing acknowledges a fundamental reality about today’s media landscape. Linear television isn’t dead, especially in markets where internet connectivity remains inconsistent or expensive. But it’s no longer sufficient by itself. Young audiences expect on demand access, personalized recommendations, and the ability to engage directly with creators they admire.
Trace Plus aims to provide all those capabilities while maintaining the curation and production quality associated with traditional broadcasters. Finding that balance between democratized creator access and editorial standards represents one of the central challenges facing media companies trying to bridge television and digital worlds.
The creator economy dimension matters enormously for African talent. TikTok and similar platforms have demonstrated that African creators can build global audiences, but monetization often remains challenging. Language barriers, payment infrastructure limitations, and algorithmic biases can all impede African creators’ ability to earn sustainable incomes from their work.
By combining ByteDance’s technology with Trace’s understanding of African markets and culture, Trace Plus could potentially address some of these structural barriers. Whether that vision translates into reality depends on execution, creator adoption, and whether the platform can deliver genuine economic opportunity alongside cultural celebration.
Laouchez’s comment about avoiding a quarterly layoff cycle reflects awareness of how damaging constant restructuring can be for creative organizations. Building trust with creators and audiences requires stability. People need to believe that investing time and energy into a platform will pay off over years, not just until the next corporate restructuring.
As Paramount reduces its footprint in international markets and focuses resources on core properties, spaces like Afro Urban entertainment are left with fewer major players. That consolidation could strengthen Trace’s position, but it also means less competition driving innovation and potentially fewer resources flowing into African content production overall.
The next few years will reveal whether Trace’s hybrid model can sustain itself financially while delivering on its mission to champion African creativity. Success would demonstrate that African focused media companies can compete globally without compromising cultural authenticity. Failure would leave a significant gap in how African youth see their experiences reflected on screen.
For now, Trace stands alone in its specific niche, carrying both the opportunities and burdens that come with being the last major network dedicated exclusively to Afro Urban culture. Whether that position proves sustainable depends on execution, partnerships, and whether audiences embrace the hybrid television digital future Laouchez envisions.
