According to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, streaming presents expanding opportunities for the music and film industries in Nigeria to generate income.
On Monday, the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) spoke at a governors’ meeting at the state house in Abuja regarding Nigeria’s cultural industries.
The music and film industries in Nigeria, according to Okonjo-Iweala, provide “many bright spots” for success on a worldwide scale.
With the exception of the plague of piracy, she claimed that streaming offers increasing prospects for enhanced revenue creation.
“I was in the Caribbean earlier this year and was delighted to hear people in Saint Lucia listening to Nigerian music,” she said.
“Nollywood is one of the world’s fastest-growing creative industries, according to an Afreximbank report, worth $6.4 billion in 2021 and growing at 10% per year.
“It is true that piracy has weighed on music and film revenues. Afreximbank estimated that, for every 100 legitimate copies of a Nigerian film supposed to sell for $6, 90% end up pirated for less than $1.
“But streaming offers new and growing possibilities for reach, affordability, and revenue generation.”
Onkonjo-Iweala said, beyond piracy, entertainment holds great potential for cultural tourism in Nigeria.
“There is a lot of potential for cultural tourism that explores our contemporary arts, literature, and entertainment scene alongside our rich and diverse history,” she said.
“Please remember that if California were a country, it would be the 5th largest economy in the world, largely built on services and entertainment.
“I always say that the future of trade is services. It is green and digital. We have the tools and the skills to capture new markets on the continent and elsewhere.”
Nigeria’s music, PwC projects, will hit $44 million in 2023, with live music alone contributing $100 million yearly.
The professional services company says Nigeria’s music-streaming segment is only slowly gaining traction.
According to its entertainment and media perspective for 2019–2023, 76% of the music industry’s total income in 2018 came from digital sources like streaming, paid downloads, and other mobile sources.
According to the report, over 60% of Nigeria’s music market income in 2018 came from mobile music, but that percentage is predicted to drop to less than 50% by 2023 as the streaming market continues to gain ground.
The OTT video streaming market in Nigeria, which includes major providers like Netflix, Showmax, and Prime Video, is expected to grow from $14 million in 2021 to $26 million by 2026. This does not exclude the cinema industry.
The internet, a source at the firm tells HowNG, drives a significant chunk of the growth in Nigeria’s creative sector.