Why Netflix stopped commissioning original Nigerian productions – Filmmaker, Jay Jituboh

Jay Jituboh, the director of the acclaimed movie The Origin: Madam Koi Koi, has explained why Netflix has stopped commissioning projects from Nigerian filmmakers.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the global streaming giant, which entered the African market in 2016 and launched operations in Nigeria in 2020, announced it would no longer commission, acquire, or fund original Nigerian productions from November 2024.

Speaking during an interview on Pulse Nigeria’s “Hot Takes”, Jituboh refuted suggestions that Netflix exited the Nigerian market entirely.

He attributed the company’s decision to a disparity between Nigeria’s large population and relatively low subscriber base.

Jituboh said, “There are a whole lot of factors that are responsible for this, and just so we are clear, Netflix didn’t pull out of Nigeria; they only paused on commissioning projects. They are still licensing content for them, but they said, Okay, you know what, let’s do a pay-one system where you go to the cinema first, so that we can figure out how best to approach this industry. I can confidently say 50 to 60 per cent, or 20 per cent of those people have smartphones, so that would probably be about 40 million.

“Now, data is relatively cheap. Well, in recent times, it’s not that cheap and here’s the thing: of those 200 million people in Nigeria, Netflix could only brag of less than 200,000 subscribers to the Netflix platform. Among that 200,000 or fewer subscribers, they had a big problem: password sharing. So, there was password sharing, which was one factor. So, what is causing that? So, if I put things in perspective and try to analyse the situation, I’ve realised that the average Nigerian has a spending limit on entertainment.”

The filmmaker further explained that although the number of viewers on the streaming platform keeps increasing, only a small fraction subscribe.

“Netflix has a backend where they see the number of people who have viewed and watched, and how many times it has been screened or seen. These numbers don’t count on their platform. So if 20 million have seen Madam Koi Koi, maybe only 200 thousand registered on Netflix.

“That’s what matters to them. So they’re looking at it, we’re spending all this money, and not getting the views and the subscription. So, every show on Netflix has been pirated. So that is one of the reasons they had to step back.”

Piracy

Additionally, the Delta-born filmmaker identified piracy as another key reason Netflix ceased commissioning Nigerian films.

He further noted that the rise of YouTube and other streaming platforms has contributed to a decline in Netflix subscriptions.

“So I will tell you for free. How do they get it? Madam Koi Koi was released on the 31st of October, which was Halloween day, right? By the next day, we had taken down 12 YouTube channels that had already uploaded the first part. So once it’s a streaming platform, I think they have ways to extract these films. So it’s weird, but we took down 12 channels. By next week, when part two dropped, we were taking channels down with parts one and two. Someone even had the guts to email us to say, Why would we take down that? They’re not using it for monetary purposes or their personnel.

“I’m like, why would you take my film and put it on your channel for public viewing and say it’s for your consumption? He was lucky; I didn’t respond to him because I would have found him and arrested him. So my point is, there’s that. And that’s just one platform. That’s YouTube. There are Naijaock, Telegram, and others, where people create channels to share links to people’s work. So when I meet people, they say, ” Oh, I saw your film. I’m like, Ah, where did you watch it? They’ll be like, Oh, I downloaded it on Telegram”, said Jituboh.

He has directed numerous films, including “Alone”, “Dinner”, “Direct Message”, “Stuck”, “Rumour Has It”, and “Once”, among others.