In 2017, Samuel Perry, also known as Brodashaggi had started putting up funny scenes, asking questions and replying these questions with sarcasm, which people found funny because he did these things creatively. Many looked at him as someone fooling around, little did they know he was also loved and appreciated by many more, lifting many into laughter and smiles. He had a slang “Oya, hit me” which he would use at the beginning of his comedy skits. This slang became really popular. Samuel Perry has continued to deliver entertaining jokes and he is being recognized widely in the entertainment industry both in comedy making and movie acting. He has 8.6 million followers on Instagram.
Another skit maker and comedian, Debo Adedayo, better known as Mr. Macaroni is best known for playing the role of a sugar daddy in his comedy skits and using the slang “Ooin”. Debo also plays some movie roles and has featured Samuel Perry in some of his comedy skits. He has 2.2 million followers on Instagram.
Not only men have dominated the comedy content creation space but there are also female comedians who deliver great content. One well known lady is Gloria Oloruntobi, known as Maraji in her comedy skits. She started out by miming and lip syncing to different popular songs but later switched to creating hilarious comedy skits and switching between characters and accents. Other female Nigerian comedians are Taooma and Helen Paul.
Before the pandemic that erupted in late 2019, traditional media players such as cassettes, DVD players and CDs were majorly used to listen to music and watch movies but now, online streaming has become really popular.
Music and movie lovers can easily just stream online instead of going to a shop to get a DVD or having the only choice of watching the movie when it comes out in cinemas. Videos became more accessible with possible streaming anywhere either on the road, in the car or at the comfort of one’s home. This increased customer sophistication because many streaming platforms got introduced in Nigeria and had many streams to different songs and movies in just the first year.
Read also: Nollywood produces highest movies in 4yrs despite COVID-19
Boomplay, which was introduced in 2015 in Nigeria, is the largest music streaming platform and has over a million users. The music streaming platform pays an artist a proportionate share of the subscription revenue obtained monthly whenever a subscriber streams the music of an artiste. Other music streaming platforms such as Apple music, Youtube music, Amazon music and Spotify also pay the same way with differences in amount being paid because it is based on their subscriber base.
Iroko TV, owned by the well-to-do Jason Njoku, is popularly called the “Netflix of Africa” and allows individuals to watch any movie and television show whenever they want and as often as they want, using either a smartphone device or screen display device. The movie streaming platform has up to 1.31 million subscribers. There are many others like that such as Netflix which has gained more popularity than ever in the country not only because Nollywood movies are uploaded on the platform but also because it encompasses movies from different countries, Showmax and FilmHouse.
The music and movie sector of the Nigerian entertainment industry recorded significant yearly growth recently. The amount generated from new movies that are being produced this year is quite shocking.
On the 16th of July, 2021 the movie “Dwindle” was produced and the revenue generated from it was N42 million. Two famous movies “Omo Ghetto” and “Quams money” which were produced in 2020 generated N636 million and N92 million revenues respectively.
The movie “Omo Ghetto” was produced by Funke Akindele, a popular actress known for acting the movie and series “Jenifa’s Diary”. This will definitely give answers to questions that may be asked concerning the high revenue that was generated from that movie.
Some popular music artistes such as the likes of Davido with 180 million streams on his album “A Better Time” on Audiomack; Olamide with 132 million streams on his album “Carpe Diem” on Audiomack; Wizkid with 123 million streams on his album “Made in Lagos” on Audiomack, and FireBoy with 120 million streams on his album “Laughter, Tears and Goosebumps” on Audiomack earned through number of streams on various streaming platforms. Nollywood movies also earn whenever a movie is uploaded on a movie streaming website. The earnings are more when the movie becomes a megahit.
The number of production and new artists coming up has made the industry looks livelier. Many of these actors and artistes have won awards which have attracted more investments and have helped in the production of world-class African content.
The advancement of technology has played an integral part in the media and entertainment industry as they are well built in a way that there are no constraints to what people can view or watch. Most social media or streaming platforms have the systematic algorithms that help recommend what a user has viewed to another user, giving some form of popularity to entertainers and their content. An example is Instagram that allows its users watch videos and the more the video is watched by many people, the chances it will appears on its explore page for everyone to see.
The advancement in technology has transformed the world into where entertainers can just get paid by posting their content online and having a certain number of views or likes. This is now very possible because people spend most of their time on all streaming platforms. It has made some entertainers turn the content they do into a full time job knowing it is likely to pay them more. Instagram started as a picture sharing platform but has now developed into a movie trailer posting platform, advert platform, comedy skit platforms and music video platform.
Entertaining people started a very long time ago and has been used as a form of expression of art and culture. It influences people and this is why any person who listens to a particular artiste a lot or watch a movie tends to follow their lifestyle regardless of how positive and negative it may be.
Many people have constantly devoted their time listening to or watching those entertainers and some are influenced by various kinds of dances that begin to trend from their music videos. As stated by Jim Morrison, a famous American singer, that “whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”
