iROKOtv

iROKOtv is a web platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on-demand. It is one of Africa’s first mainstream online movie steaming websites, giving instant access to over 5,000 Nollywood film titles. iROKOtv is a part of iROKO Partners which is one of Africa’s leading entertainment companies, housing brands such as iROKING, an online music platform and its YouTube website, Nollywoodlove.^[1]

iROKOtv was launched on 1 December 2011. Its parent company, iROKO Partners, was founded by Jason Njoku and Bastian Gotter in December 2010, ^[2] with its headquarters in Anthony village, Lagos, Nigeria. iROKOtv which has been dubbed the ‘Netflix’ of Africa, is the world’s largest legal digital distributor of African movies.^[3]

History

The iROKOtv website was launched on 1 December 2011 by iROKO Partners, who are the largest licensors and distributors of Nollywood movies.^[4][5] Jason Njoku, the company’s CEO and Bastian Gotter, now COO, met whilst students together at the University of Manchester together.^[6]

Njoku made several attempts to set up his own companies in the immediate years after university, but failed on each attempt.^[7]

Njoku was inspired to start the company when he found it difficult to obtain Nollywood movies online for his mother, who he was living with at the time.^[8] Having researched the Nollywood industry, and noting the lack of infrastructure in place for international distribution of the movies, Njoku flew to Lagos, Nigeria, and purchased the online licenses of Nollywood movies directly from the producers. Having struck a deal with YouTube in Germany, he used the Google-owned platform to stream the licensed Nollywood movies, for free, on his channel, Nollywoodlove.^[9]

The channel became hugely popular and was profitable in a short space of time^[10] and was the focus of a number of press features in international press, including CNBC, CNN and Techcrunch. The success of Nollywoodlove lead to a successful investment from US-based hedge fund Tiger Global, who led a two-round investment totaling US$8 million,^[11] making it one of the biggest single investments into a West African Dot-com venture. A further investment round of $2m, led by Swedish-based hedge fund Kinnevik, followed in July 2012.^[12][13]

iROKOtv works with most of Nollywood’s top film production houses and purchases the exclusive online licenses to their films, In an attempt to distribute Nollywood films to a global audience. The company’s audience is predominantly in the Diaspora, with top five countries including the US, UK, Canada, Germany and Italy.^[12]

Njoku is often recognized by his peers and in the media as a pioneer in African tech start-ups^[14] and in 2012 was voted by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of London’s top black men of power.^[15]

Services iROKOtv operates a freemium business model where users can access Nollywood movies. The significant majority of the website, approximately 95%, is totally free^[16] with the rest of the site operating a subscription service called iROKOtv PLUS, that gives subscribers access to brand new Nollywood movies (2012 onwards) for only $5 a month.^[17] The new service was launched by Nollywood stars and iROKOtv brand ambassadors, Funke Akindele and Tonto Dikeh

Internet Video Streaming iROKOtv’s video player is currently powered by Ooyala, who are an online video technology provider and service.^[18] iROKOtv also enjoys content distribution deals with YouTube, Dailymotion, iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo.^[19][20]

Global business In 2012, the company opened offices in London and New York^[21] and in 2013, the company added a further business hub, this time in Johannesburg.^[22] The company has also forged partnerships with leading global technology firms, including Nokia, who launched the iROKOtv App on the Nokia Lumia in January 2013.^[23]

Internet video streaming

iROKOtv’s main offering is an internet video streaming platform of selected Nollywood titles (both English and Yoruba films). It currently runs a free registration model and a paid subscription model, which was introduced on 1 July 2012 for newer film releases for $5 only a month.^{[24][25][20][26]} iROKOtv’s video player is currently powered by Ooyala, who are an online video technology provider and service.^[27] iROKOtv also enjoys content distribution deals with Dailymotion, iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo.^[13]

References