Business - Success Plan
Amazon Prime Video Turns to Nollywood to Wo By Carlos Mureithi
Inkblot Studios co-founders (from left) Zulumoke Oyibo, Damola Ademola, and Chinaza-Onuzo. INKBLOT PRODUCTIONS
WITH THE AMERICAN MARKET becoming saturated, streaming firms are looking across the globe to gain more subscribers and increase their offerings, typically by investing in partnerships with local studios and developing local content for overseas viewers. Africa, with its population of more than 1 billion people and increasing internet connectivity, presents significant potential. From next year, Amazon Prime Video will bring its viewers new releases from one of Africa’s top movie studios, thanks to a deal signed earlier this month with Nigerian production company Inkblot. Amazon is joining a small number of video streamers in Africa, notably US streaming giant Netflix and South Africa’s Showmax, in the fight for eyeballs in the continent. Appie Matere, a Kenyan TV producer with a 18
January-February 2022
series on Showmax, says the competition in the African streaming market presents a chance for African content creators to tell African stories to the world from a local perspective. “Amazon, Disney—everybody is talking about [how] all these big players are coming to Africa. We’re hoping we’ll be able also to actually put our footprints on most of these platforms,” she says.
More streaming services will compete in Africa in 2022 While Netflix is set to remain the leader in streaming for the African market, according to a projection through 2026 from London-based business intelligence firm Digital TV Research, there’s going to be fierce competition for the No. 2 spot between local offerings and other US
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www.africabusinessassociation.org
