Touring is very lucrative for the Wiggles. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Touring is very lucrative for the Wiggles. Photo / Paul Estcourt
KEY POINTS:
They've conquered the United States and now Australia's most successful skivvy-wearing entertainment export, pre-school band The Wiggles, is poised to dance and sing its way into Africa.
The group is in the final stages of lucrative negotiations with a cable television company to screen two of its televisionseries across 35 African countries, the band's general manager, Mike Conway, told an accountants' congress in Melbourne on Thursday.
Mr Conway said the expansion would also open a door into South Africa, which is excluded from the new deal.
"If we are there [in Africa], there will be feed-throughs.
"People will start seeing it and that will probably help in engaging ... South Africa," he said.
The contract is being negotiated with an arm of new cable television company Gateway Communications.
Mr Conway declined to put a figure on the deal but said any contract would likely run for about three years.
It was more about strategy than money, he said. "It's more about entering a market."
Ratings would be reviewed 12 months after airing the series before the group would start talks with distributors.
The United States remains the group's largest market, with band members spending 3 1/2 months a year in the country touring.
Mr Conway estimated touring generated about half the group's US$55 million ($75 million) annual turnover.
The Wiggles will launch on Japanese television next month but with the original Australian performers dubbed in Japanese.
The group has launched theme parks on the Gold Coast and in New York and play centres have also been established in the US and Australia.
