The Nigerian film industry continues to struggle with persistent challenges related to intellectual property protection, losing an estimated $6 million annually to piracy.
Many discussions have pointed to the growing demand for Nollywood content, which far outweighs the purchasing power of its audience.
To address this, on-demand streaming platforms like Showmax, Netflix and others reduced subscription fees in 2021. Yet, piracy remains a major issue, undermining efforts to make content more accessible.
Over time, Nollywood creators have turned to platforms like YouTube to monetize their work and lower the cost barrier for audiences.
However, intellectual property thieves have adapted, finding new ways to exploit and profit from stolen content.
One of the industry’s leading figures, actress and producer Omoni Oboli, sat down with Nairametrics to discuss Nollywood’s challenges, the impact of her work on the industry’s progress, and the growing threats to creative ownership.
Known for productions like Wives on Strike (the franchise), Being Mrs. Elliot, and many others, Omoni has continued to push boundaries in an already competitive industry. In this interview, she sheds light on how piracy is evolving, particularly through social media and digital platforms, and what needs to be done to combat it.
Nollywood movies on YouTube are being pirated on Telegram channels, we need stricter penalties for this menace– Omoni Oboli
Nairametrics: You’ve had such an incredible journey in Nollywood, spanning over two decades as an actor, producer, and filmmaker. When you look back, did you always know you would be an actress?
Omoni Oboli: There’s no way I could’ve seen this. Yet, I had prepared for this for a long time before I got into the industry. Remember, it wasn’t Nollywood back then when I first began but was called ‘Home Video. ’ It wasn’t this robust and vibrant industry.
Many parents even forbade their children from considering it as a profession. It was looked down on by people, and parents couldn’t imagine their children being involved in it.
Back in secondary school, I was president of my school’s drama club, and I wrote, produced, and directed the plays we showed to parents, teachers and students.
There was something deeply satisfying about seeing my work and efforts come alive, to see the joy in the eyes of those watching and to hear the applause at the end of the shows. In that sense, I was somewhat prepared, but to see this far was not even conceivable until I first got into the industry in my first year in school.
Even then, I don’t think I thought that producing and directing were possible for me. Yet, here we are, and I’m thankful to God for the success.
Nairametrics: You started as an actor, but over time, you’ve taken on the role of a producer and filmmaker. What inspired that transition? Was it a natural progression for you, or was there a specific moment where you realized you wanted to take more control behind the scenes?
Omoni Oboli: Like I said, I’d already had some experience in writing, producing, and directing back in my secondary school days. That already prepared me for those particular sets of skills. But the reality is that it all began out of necessity.
I needed to get back into the industry after a ten-year hiatus, but with me being the new girl, and I had been forgotten by the public, no one gave me a chance.
It was through writing for Emem Isong Misodi that I used that skill to trade my writing for roles. It reignited my passion for writing and got me back into the industry, but the producing and directing aspects came years later.
Seeing the finished work of the scripts I had written for the marketers back then, I wasn’t satisfied because even though no two directors will give the same outcome from the same script, I wanted my stories and scripts to have my DNA, to see the final outcome the way I envisioned the stories I was writing, because I write in pictures. I envision each scene as I write, and this has helped me as a director.
So, I attended the New York Film Academy in New York to study Digital Filmmaking, and that’s how my journey into producing and directing began.
Nairametrics: Do you think more actors in Nollywood should consider transitioning into producing, or is it a path that requires a specific mindset?
Omoni Oboli: I believe anyone should do whatever they find they can do or what they love to do. If it’s not a skill you have, you can learn it in whatever aspect of filmmaking you desire to be involved in.
If an actor finds himself or herself dissatisfied with the way movies are made and feels a pull towards producing, directing, or writing, there’s nothing stopping them. I don’t know if it’s a case of wanting more actors going into it or not, or if it’s just about anyone should get into it.
Of course, the industry would benefit from an expansion of creatives getting into production because it creates more jobs and expands the industry, and I don’t mind that at all.
In a way, it also helps the actors to see the rigors of a production so they can be more appreciative and empathetic when they get on other people’s sets as hired actors. It has, on occasion, helped curb the diva attitude of some actors-turned-producers.
Nairametrics: Alright, let’s rewind to 2023 with your move to digital distribution via YouTube. Two years later, you’ve gained 731,000 subscribers, 153,498,869 million views, and uploaded over 500 videos. What was the initial investment required to set up OmoniOboli TV, and how long did it take to break even?
Omoni Oboli: By God’s grace, it has grown more than that. We’re now over 720k subscribers and increasing the number of views for our movies. It was something I had thought about and discussed with my partner Tomi Adeoye, and we began shooting some movies in 2019, but then the pandemic and lockdowns happened, and it was all put on hold.
YouTube has been an attraction for me for some time, and when we got into it, it was our own right time. We did our research and spent months on the platform researching because it was a medium, and we didn’t have a clue about its workings.
We discovered a whole new world of entertainment that seemed to run parallel to the cinema route I was used to. The initial investment was informed by the outcome of our investigations into both the average production costs and average returns on investment (ROI).
This differs from one producer to another, depending on the story, the genre of movies, the number of locations, the production value, the actors used, and the Revenue Per Mille (RPM).
We built it in such a way that our standard was high; we took our experience from creating big screen movies and brought it into our made-for-TV content, and the audience feedback was good. It took us about 2 months to break in, and by that I mean, to get our rythm and earnings to be somewhat stable. Each week’s earnings depend on the movies we release that week and the RPM.
Nairametrics: Speaking of digital distribution, one of the challenges filmmakers face is piracy. I understand you recently had an issue with your movie A Different Type of Love, where viewers noticed similarities with another film, Hope Given. How did that situation unfold?
Omoni Oboli: It’s never easy to handle piracy or control the integrity of writers. That’s why we set in motion certain rules and clauses in our agreements in hopes that writers have enough integrity to honour them.
The contracts are meant to act as deterrents for fraud or abuse or breach, which were broken in this case.
Whoever works for us must understand what they’re signing that clearly stipulates that plagiarism will result in prosecution and monetary penalties.
This is because the movie is produced to make money, and if a writer goes ahead to give us a script we do not know you’ve sold to more than one person or plagiarized then we lose our integrity and revenue, because we will take that video down without being asked to which is what happened in this case.
Once we realized (very quickly) what had happened, we took down the video. It’s still under litigation for now, so I don’t have the complete story to give right away on this particular matter, but our lawyers and the guilds are on it.
As for piracy, they show our movies on places like Telegram, with many people watching at low bandwidths because they’re saving on their cherished data. I understand the why, but those who watch on these platforms must also understand how they hurt content creators when they can’t even watch the ‘free’ YouTube movies.
Instead, they still want to get around that to watch it and build those watch party rooms for pirates. We occasionally also have to keep looking out for unauthorized releases of our content on YouTube with a different title. The business of distributing our movies is still a headache, and these issues only exacerbate the problems we already face
Nairametrics: How do you think the industry can tackle this problem? Are there specific measures you’ve taken to protect your content, especially on platforms like YouTube?
Omoni Oboli: It is bigger than any one producer can handle as individuals. It needs a strong government intervention to prevent and protect our efforts. Penalties have to be strict and effective. We have a team that is on the lookout for fake releases on YouTube and elsewhere online, but we can’t seem to track the free watching parties on Telegram, especially.
That’s where the government can help do more than we can do personally. Of course, with time, we’re also growing and learning more ways to keep track and shut down such things, but we simply look to the bright side and keep pressing on regardless of the issues we face on distribution before we make chasing pirates the main business when it isn’t.
Nairametrics: Let’s talk about revenue streams. You’ve got cinema releases, streaming platforms, and YouTube. How do you decide where to allocate resources to maximize profitability?
Omoni Oboli: Each streaming platform has its format, expected production value, actors who are bankable on each varied platform, marketing, and audience expectations.
These things affect budgeting, and budget is really what separates the boys from the men. The marketing is such that each medium demands its own unique way of reaching their audiences. For streaming platforms like Netflix or Prime, once a date has been determined, and you get it in good time ahead of its release, you can do so much to boost the initial viewing.
For a cinema that has the highest marketing budget, you have to weigh your entire production and marketing budget against a realistic return on investment (ROI) to avoid losing money.
On YouTube, marketing is also done, but more on the side of reaching a wider audience through social media engagements and not necessarily spending money on marketing gimmicks that may aid cinema releases but may not necessarily bring more viewership or subscribers to your channel.
Also, the number of views does not necessarily translate to more money on YouTube. There are other considerations that inform good profit.
In whatever way you want your movies released, good research is always necessary and helpful. The beauty of these options is that they give anyone the opportunity to get into the movie business at any level. The market either rewards or punishes your efforts, but it grows the industry regardless.
Nairametrics: And out of all your projects, which one has been the most profitable so far? What do you think contributed to its success? Was it the marketing, the cast, or the platform it was released on?
Omoni Oboli: My movies have mostly been profitable because I understand that even though it’s show business, the business part of it is what ensures you stay in the game.
Success is a combination of a great story, great delivery by actors, generally a great production value by crew, from preproduction to postproduction, and the likability factor of the production company or actors used. Your distributor matters in cinema releases.
You can have the best movies, but if your distributor isn’t doing the work, or working in your best interest, your movie’s making it or breaking even would be left purely to chance. On YouTube, your channel visibility and content release, quality, and consistency matter.
With good marketing, a reputation for quality which means you do not take your audience for granted, and good stories that first satisfy your immediate loyalists, you would see more subscribers and views.
Nairametrics: Looking ahead, how do you see Nollywood evolving in the next 5–10 years? Do you think YouTube and other digital platforms will become the primary distribution channels, or will traditional cinema and streaming platforms like Netflix continue to dominate?
Omoni Oboli: It’s looking good for Nollywood right now. We are a resilient bunch. We have had doors opened to us- Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc- and we’ve had doors closed on us as well, but we are living out the principle that necessity is the mother of invention by the way we dust ourselves up and find new ways to distribute our content.
So, the next 5-10 years will be quite interesting to see what will happen. I’m pleasantly hopeful and live in anticipation of what’s to come. The world is moving fast, and with the fast-moving technology and AI, who knows what the future holds for Nollywood? But it feels great walking right into it. I believe there will be great shifts and opportunities that will explode the industry even more in the next 5 to 10 years.
With the very high bar to break even in cinema releases and the prohibitive cost of marketing in order to be seen and anticipated enough to make an impact and profit, I believe that many are turning to YouTube as a primary medium for movie content.
It has a lesser threshold to enter, and if done right, has good ROI; however, more platforms will arise in due course, and we will have more avenues to distribute our movies.
