iROKOtv CEO, Jason Njoku Not Worried About Netflix Expansion To Nigeria

iROKOtv CEO, Jason Njoku

As against emerging speculations that the announcement of Netflix expansion to 130 countries including Nigeria will mark the end of iROKOtv, Jason Njoku, co-founder and CEO of the video-on-demand movie platforms for Nigerian movies, has insisted that the California-based Netflix "being in Nigeria has zero impact on iROKOtv" and its "vision for the future".

"I use Netflix pretty much every week. My wife uses it pretty much every week. I have been a subscriber since 2012 and have never churned out. It’s amazing. I have blogged and generally been smitten by the company and their internet style market share grab. Where possible, I even try to emulate it. But Netflix irokotv isn’t. irokotv is irokotv".

"But as I have mentioned before, there is only one Netflix of Africa. And that is Netflix. Why? People fail to remember that Netflix is an 18 year old company. 18 years they have been refining their skills at getting people to subscribe for content. They are just awesome at it. But Africa is a little different", he wrote on his recent blog post.

The British-born Nigerian entrepreneur also revealed that "US and UK represent ~55% of our subscription base. And it’s grown (not break-neck) but steadily over the last few years, in Netflix’s back yard".

He stated that iROKOtv recorded 313 million streaming video views across our YouTube channels in 2015 while 185 million of that was largely long form 2nd tier Nollywood content. "What % was Nigeria? ~6%. And it’s free. YouTube = Free To Air Internet. Nigeria has consistently seen around 50% less engagement in Africa than comparable markets in Western Europe. Today streaming is just difficult. I have no doubt it will get better. But it’s not today", he wrote.

A self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, iROKOtv is Njoku’s 11th attempt at starting a business. He came up with the idea of launching a new distribution platform for Nollywood whilst living at home with his mum, aged 30, after a number of failed enterprises.