Since 2015, Netflix – the American streaming TV service and a global active subscriber started featuring the content of Nigeria’s movie industry.
To the industry, this involvement between them and the world’s most prominent streaming TV podium has become the beginning of a new era creating a lot of positive impacts.
Nollywood, Africa’s most prolific film industry, has experienced a great deal of transformation through Netflix that is quite significant.
In this post, you’ll see the various ways by which Netflix is reshaping the Nigerian movie industry, otherwise known as Nollywood.
1. Easy marketing of Nigerian movies
Netflix is creating series of noticeable impacts in the Nigerian film and TV industry. Among them is the way it markets Nollywood content quickly right in front of viewers.
So, let’s take our first step into how Netflix movie streaming has changed how Nollywood market their content online.
Before now, movies have been owned and distributed more directly than ever.
Netflix has transformed the way completely. It studies subscribers’ interests and then tailors Nigerian movies, documentaries, and television series based on its data about each consumer.
Netflix now sells Nigerian movies non-stop by ascertaining the kind of shows a subscriber prefers based on their viewing habits. It then utilizes the data to similar market content to the audience member.
2. Bringing fame to Nigerian actors
Netflix now brings the Nigerian independent film category to stardom, saving unknown actors and actresses from an uphill battle they faced many years ago.
Through the technological advancement that Netflix is creating, a new movie series of independent Nollywood now reaches millions of viewers through the streaming platform, propelling unknown actors to fame.
Actors become famous overnight with the help of movie/TV fans Netflix has connected them to.
With an average viewer age of between 21 – 49, subscribers have watched nearly a billion movies from all over Nollywood – including content from major film studios and independent filmmakers.
With such massive audiences watching different genres daily and all year round, Nigerian actors get so many subscribers in one place at once. And this is a continuous process; viewers keep coming back to watch their content, and more significant audience subscriptions all contribute to their growth.
3. Changing the way subscribers view content
The idea of binge-watching has changed the way subscribers view TV/movie content online. Netflix establishes the birth of binge-watching trends – an avenue for millions of people to sign up to binge-watch shows from any location at their convenience.
And as we all know, more people are using smartphones, tablets, and connected televisions to stream movies on the internet.
People can subscribe to access the whole content library and view Nollywood Adds movies on the Netflix platform with a certain monthly fee.
According to Neil Sorensen, “The internet is gone from being an island of books in your hand to something you carry with that massive screen.”
Nowadays, viewers go beyond watching DVDs to streaming movies on mobiles or through digital devices that are beyond analog.
And as audiences go increasingly digital, they look for ways around DVD players’ limitations — not just because most consumers use them exclusively but because binge-watching enables them to watch many TV series (if not all episodes) in rapid succession.
4. Creating significant new investments
Netflix creates significant new investment in the Nigerian movie industry by streaming thousands of shows at a time through DVD and video marketing.
In turn, the effect gives a noteworthy increase in the need to produce more new and fresh content, implying an additional return on the back end.
And the more the videos streamed on the platform, the more income to the independent producers and the industry.
The significant investment now comes when the streaming videos on Netflix turn out a profit and a box office of success.
5. Reducing piracy of movies and TV shows
Netflix, an international over-the-top media streaming platform, provides Nigerian subscribers with reasonably priced online accessibility for videos, thereby curbing piracy significantly.
The launching of Netflix in Nigeria territory slashed the illegal act of film piracy by about half in just five years. As the traffic of the streaming platform continues to grow over time, online piracy and illegal content download continue to decline drastically.
Netflix hinders illegal distributions of Nollywood content by employing watermarks or related technologies to deter piracy visibly or invisibly.
Again, they apply the use of fingerprinting high-tech on the streaming platforms to spot copywriting of materials.
6. Updating internet business models
By updating internet business models in the Nigerian media and entertainment industry, we mean that Netflix applies internet tech models to share its products with millions of customers across the globe.
Netflix is creating technological freedom in Nigeria’s emerging digital space. Film producers and markers don’t need to hassle anymore to reach out to their fans via marketing and distribution.
Through the use of recommendation algorithm, AI-powered technology, Netflix makes accurate, individualized references for subscribers based on their watch history, ratings, preferences, and demographics.
The benefit of personalized suggestions reduces the frustration of wasting a hell of time searching for great content to watch.
Netflix stays ahead of trends and sources new technologies to reshape the industry incredibly.
7. Providing easy ways to rent movies online
Netflix provides accessible streaming services to rent and download Nigeria movies Apps online. So, if you’re looking for a subscription movie rental service that’s good at producing, look no further!
All services included in the Netflix streaming platform are provided free of charge through the viewers’ internet connection aside from an established payment plan before giving any money away under these terms of use.
From the Netflix platform, people can order and rent streaming Nigerian videos or film series about anything they like to watch anytime, from any device.
The operation of video rental stores is now obsolete. The reason is that they did not adjust to the swift technological change, and so the streaming platform like Netflix took over and started lending online videos.
8. Mining the user’s data
Surprising right? Oh yes, one of the helpful innovations of Netflix is mining subscribers’ data, which in turn, becomes a benefit to the filmmakers and producers.
Netflix buys movies based on subscribers’ search history (using the IP address) and then uses that information to find ads.
However, there is no idea how much it amounts to billions of naira. The bottom line is that content producers or service providers earn from the number of products marketed on the streaming platform.
The personal browsing profile of the viewer is only one part that contributes to what the movie industry gains; all other benefits perhaps are confidential.
Does Netflix have Nollywood?
As an international streaming TV platform, Netflix shows wide-ranging Nigerian movies, popularly known as Nollywood, and movies from overseas territories.
How much does Netflix pay for a Nigerian movie?
The average licensing fee for Nigerian movies ranges between $10,000 – $90,000
Is Netflix allowed in Nigeria?
Yes, Netflix is allowed in Nigeria. Netflix users in Nigeria can watch movies on the platform at the rate of N1, 200/month using the new mobile plan.
How many Nigerian movies are on Netflix?
According to the recent findings, Netflix will have up to 40 Nigerian movies on its platform in February 2021.
Bottom Line
Apart from the U.S, Netflix is changing the global entertainment industry, which Nigeria is not an exception. As a leader in the movie streaming market, Netflix has created a model for broadcasting and movie distribution that has brought tremendous success stories in quite a short time.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that this definitive modern media company is creating significant advances for the Nigerian movie industry, the film studios, viewers, and the filmmakers – suddenly catapulting even Nigerian unknown actors to celebrities.
