A new streaming service is set to bring more Black culture to your television screen.
Introducing Mansa – a free ad-supported streaming video-on-demand service for global Black culture, as reported by Next TV. Founded by actors Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, and Chiké Okonkwo, Mansa is designed to offer a variety of content, like on-demand titles, digital linear channels, and short-form videos.
Collaborating with tech entrepreneur and film financier, Zak Tanjeloff, TechCrunch reported the company will soon announce they have closed an $8 million seed round, led by MaC Venture Capital. They have received additional funding from the likes of Robert F. Smith and former mayor of Sacramento and NBA player, Kevin Johnson’s Black Capital VC. The goal is to provide free, ad-supported content, something that Tanjeloff said is hard to find.
“That was sort of our aha moment, which is can we build a streaming platform for curated global Black culture, and deliver it to the world for free,” he said.
The platform will provide programming with global Black stars including Idris Elba’s Second Coming and Trevor Noah’s comedy special, You Laugh But It’s True, and more, acquiring licensing for more than 1,500 hours of content. With their target audience being younger millennials and Gen Z, users will be able to scroll through the app on their phone with a TikTok-style feed that will feature trending videos, with categories ranging from music to food, from YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
“For four hours a day, they are in front of a television screen, watching long-form content, and the other four hours in front of their phone watching short-form content,” Tanjeloff said. “So what we thought would be interesting was if we can marry the two in a really interesting way that nobody is doing.”
On top of Black TikTok-like content, fans can join in live with a feature titled “Watch Out Loud,” allowing users to join watch parties and stream movies and TV shows with the creators and independent filmmakers.
