Who Needs A Cinema?

TGIF! What are your plans for this Friday night? Do you plan to stay home, scrolling through your phone, or do you intend to go out with your friends or family? And just maybe, you are a homebody.

Well, I have an idea that may not be too new to you, but worth mentioning anyway.

You can have a movie night all by yourself…

On your couch, in your room, just right there on YouTube.

You don’t need a cinema ticket. No subscription. Just data and you are good to go.

I have said this to say that our movie experience is increasingly changing how we watch movies — and how filmmakers reach us.

YouTube has become one of Nollywood’s busiest cinemas. Ibrahim Yekini, better known as Itele d’Icon, recently announced that his Yoruba supernatural series, Koleoso, has amassed 141.6 million views across its 13 parts. Other filmmakers are also pulling millions of viewers to movies released directly on their channels.

The attraction is obvious if you ask me. The films are free, easy to find and available anywhere.

For filmmakers, YouTube offers something equally tempting — direct access to viewers at home and across the diaspora, without waiting for a cinema slot or streaming deal.

This new ecosystem has a lot of benefits, but it is not all rosy. Filmmaker Kunle Afolayan recently argued that while YouTube offers accessibility and dollar earnings, it cannot match the kind of money Netflix and Prime Video once offered filmmakers. We, however, cannot deny that something has shifted.

Nollywood spent years chasing the big streaming platforms. Now, its next big audience is just right there, waiting for the doors to be opened to them. And if you know Nigerians, one of their popular lingo is, “just have data.” Once the data issue is solved and no subscription is needed, the problem is almost always solved, especially when it comes to entertainment.