By Aaron Gad Orena
For decades, entertainment competed for a limited resource: audience time. Television had its prime time, radio had its morning shows, cinemas had their screenings and live events had their dates on the calendar. The rules were relatively simple; create something compelling, put it in front of people and give them a reason to tune in.
That equation has changed.
Today, the problem is not shortage of entertainment, it is an overwhelming abundance of it. Research shared by McKinsey and referenced in recent industry analysis shows that while total media consumption has grown only marginally, the volume of content competing for that attention has exploded. The result is an increasingly fragmented audience that often consumes several forms of media at once.
The implication is significant; entertainment is competing with everything that can capture attention. A football match is competing with TikTok, a television drama is competing with YouTube, a musician is competing with podcasts, gaming, WhatsApp conversations and millions of creators producing content from their phones.
Uganda is gradually becoming part of this reality. According to Uganda Communications Communication (UCC) 2026 Quarter 2 Market Performance Report, Uganda has 19.7 million active internet users and 49 million mobile connections as of June 2026. While internet penetration remains relatively low at 22 percent, these numbers point to a steadily expanding digital audience and a growing opportunity for entertainment to reach consumers beyond traditional platforms.
Still, access is just one piece of the puzzle. The bigger change is behavioural. People are starting to get used to entertainment that is immediate, personalised, participatory and available on demand. The rise of creators has further disrupted the traditional model. A comedian, musician or storyteller no longer necessarily needs a television station, major production house or record label to begin building an audience. A smartphone, an idea and a platform can become a distribution channel.
This democratisation is exciting, but it also creates a paradox. It becomes more difficult to be seen when everyone can produce. That is why innovation in entertainment cannot simply mean putting traditional content on a new platform. It requires rethinking the experience itself.
Africa is already showing what this development might look like. PwC’s Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook 2025–2029 points to rapid growth in streaming, digital advertising, gaming, live entertainment and AI across major markets including Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. It also highlights how digital consumption and physical experiences are becoming more similar with live entertainment benefiting from social platforms’ ability to amplify events and deepen fan engagement.
This means that the future may not belong to those who produce the most content, but to those who understand how to turn attention into engagement and engagement into connection.
That could mean designing television programmes with social extensions, using short-form content to lead audiences towards deeper stories, turning music releases into experiences rather than simply songs, or creating live events that people want to experience in person and share digitally afterwards.
It could also mean utilizing AI to learn more about audiences, customize experiences and assist creators to experiment with fresh forms of storytelling rather only creating content faster. Still, technology ought to be a means rather than the idea itself.
Perhaps this is the bigger question facing the entertainment industry: what happens when content is no longer scarce, but attention is? The answer will require entertainment businesses to think beyond programming, publishing and production. They will need to think like platforms, communities and experience creators.
The battle is no longer about who can produce the most content. It is about who can create something people will stop scrolling for, choose to experience, remember and share because in the new attention economy, entertainment must capture the consumers’ attention and not just fill their time.
The writer is the Acting PR and Communications Manager, MultiChoice Uganda, a Canal+ Company
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