Founder of Iroko TV, Jason Njoku, has lamented the high cost of data and the difficulty of monetising creative content in Nigeria, describing them as major obstacles stifling the growth of the country’s entertainment industry.
Speaking on Thursday at the Creative Economy Stage of Moonshot by TechCabal, Njoku said while Nigeria is brimming with creative talent, the economic reality has made it difficult for most content creators to earn sustainable income from their work.
“People’s ability to pay is a struggle. If you look at what works in other parts of the world, they are mostly free services. Going back to the foundation level, we have so many creatives, but the big problem remains monetisation,” he said.
Njoku, who pioneered the online distribution of Nollywood films through Iroko TV, recounted how he was the first to upload Nigerian movies on YouTube for monetisation more than a decade ago. He noted that while digital distribution has expanded since then, the core issues of affordability, discoverability, and consumer willingness to pay still persist.
“Content is such an expensive and high-risk venture. If you look at music and movies, they are controlled by a few big players. There’s so much content out there today, but the real challenge is discoverability—how do you find the content to watch?” he said.
The entrepreneur stressed that without paying consumers, the local creative industry cannot scale.
“The biggest support one can get is a paying consumer. Before, we used to save our best shows for Christmas because the money just wasn’t there. The truth is that people aren’t willing to pay for content, so from an industry perspective, the sector remains small,” he added.
Njoku compared Nigeria’s situation to countries like the United States, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates, where governments and private investors have injected significant funds to build robust entertainment ecosystems.
He also noted that global streaming giants like Netflix have scaled back operations in Nigeria, signalling deeper structural problems.
“I don’t see a clear solution to our challenges even in the next ten years. Netflix has reduced their activities here. My wife has a strong Nigerian accent, but my kids, who have never been to America, speak with American accents — that tells you what they are watching. Multichoice doesn’t even have much Black content despite how big they are in Africa,” he said.
Njoku further expressed concern about Nigeria’s lack of investment in animation and children’s content, which he described as one of the most profitable frontiers in global entertainment.
“We’ve faced so many challenges in Nollywood, but we haven’t done much in comics and animation for kids. That, for me, is the most profitable future of entertainment — and Nigeria isn’t even there yet,” he lamented.
Concluding, Njoku stated that he could no longer participate in creative endeavours that are not financially viable, urging industry stakeholders to prioritise building local distribution networks.
“Everyone got excited about Netflix, but today the platform has reduced its activities in our market. We need to own our distribution channels. We keep pouring money into content creation while doing nothing about monetisation,” he said.
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