African Video on Demand platform, iROKOtv has announced plans to make about N2tn ($1bn) from online video streaming in Nigeria by the year 2020.
Speaking on Monday, the Chief Executive Officer of iROKOtv, Mr. Jason Njoku, said iROKOtv’s vision was to have one million subscribers in the country by 2020.
“If we can reach that number, then iROKO will be a billion-dollar company. We simply target $1bn (N2tn). That is what I believe Nollywood, Nigeria and West Africa deserve.”
“As a billion-dollar media and technology company, we curate and export Nigerian culture globally. The industry now needs us as much as we need them,”
he added.
Also, Nigeria’s premier telecommunication company, MTN, had indicated interest to compete with iROKOtv for the market.
Having sensed the potential VoD in the country, MTN acquired AfriNolly and DoBox, startups which are said to pose stiff competition to iROKOtv.
“The MTN DoBox and AfriNolly came as a game changer to the movie industry in Nigeria. Those who place premium value on watching movies on-the-go through the use of cutting-edge technology have been adopting it significantly since it was launched.”
Public Relations and Protocol Manager, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Funso Aina, said.
However, iROKOtv’s announcement came days after Ericsson’s Consumer Lab released the first-ever television and media report for Nigeria, which revealed that Nigerians spent about N54bn on VoD streaming between January and September 2015.
According to Johan Jemdahl, the Managing Director of Ericsson Nigeria, the figure of those viewing online videos will rise because TV and video content consumption is no longer tied to the traditional TV screen.
“With the ownership of smartphones significantly higher than that of television and PCs (which include desktops and laptops) and more Nigerians demanding flexibility in their viewing schedules, the opportunities for mobile television cannot be overstated”,
he said.
He added that Nigerians are showing increased preference to choose when they watch TV and what they want to watch, rather than follow a set schedule.