A brand new app is aiming to revolutionize the Nigerian film industry bringing film fans and movie makers together via a unique socially interactive interface.
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Murder by Numbers
YouTube has never been more
popular with Nollywood movie producers and marketers keen to upload
their content in order to garner the big instant audiences the site can
bring. But in the long run this will only spell disaster for the profitability of the Nollywood industry as a whole. Though
it may seem a good idea to gain exposure, fans, and massive clicks, the
circulation of free to download films is a guaranteed road to nowhere
for the entire Nollywood industry.
At first glance it may seem like an exciting opportunity to garner exposure, unlimited subscribers, and extra cash. YouTube,
that bastion of the modern age of social media, so appealing to content
creators and marketers alike, for, if nothing else, the sheer amount of
pairs of eyes it manages to expose its content to each and every day.
But while this may all work well if
you’re trying to sell a product like vitamin supplements or skin cream,
or be an excellent idea if you want to make short vlogs and become a
mini superstar overnight, YouTube is not the answer to provide the
Nollywood industry with the longevity and serious reputation it so
desperately needs to establish, if it is to survive long term.
Making movies is one of the most
competitive arenas on the planet, yet we are at a time in our lives
where people have never had more appetite or free income available to
spend on good quality, well produced content. Africans
all over the globe are spending big bucks accessing content produced,
made, and starred in by Nollywood directors, scriptwriters, actors, and
actresses and the market looks ripe for heavy future growth.
All this should mean that making a profit should be a cinch and in the short term, that may well be the case. But
while indie producers and cynical marketers may be reaping the short
term benefits of the increased audience YouTube can provide, the very
profit they are making is contributing to the gradual cheapening of a
whole industry, and, if it continues will no doubt eventually sound the
death knell of Nollywood itself.
The problem you see comes with perception. Give
something away for free long enough to enough people and you undervalue
that thing so much so that in the end no one will pay for it. Advertising can bring in revenue but in an industry such as the entertainment business, quality of content is king. In people’s minds, and proven by market research time and time again is the simple fact, people expect to pay for quality. And why shouldn’t they?
A great Nollywood movie takes time,
effort and resources to script, star and produce in and requires
considerable technical and acting talent, not to mention excellent
direction and experienced production values. All
this skill costs money, but if free-to-download content becomes the
norm for the industry then not only will wages available drop but also
the quality of talent proportionately.
If we devalue their skillset, if we don’t
pay our great Nollywood directors, actors and actresses what they are
worth because we have cheapened the value of the content they make to
the point that the money is just not there anymore, then our best talent
will leave Nollywood in droves, taking their skills elsewhere where
they can be adequately compensated.
What we should be doing is not cheapening
and devaluing the industry but protecting it from the pirates and the
vicious marketers, paying actors and directors what they are worth and
treating content as if it really is king. If
we do this we’ll ensure growth of revenue in what should by all
accounts be a healthy and thriving industry for decades to come.
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