From a current networth of over US$4 billion annual contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Nigerian entertainment industry is targeting an ambitious US$8.1 billion in annual revenues by 2019.
Stakeholders however say that the target is likely to be met earlier, citing the growing funding of high budget movies by financial institutions, budding music collaborations, technical support/exchanges and the effort by some indigenous organisations to manufacture entertainment equipment in the country.
With ready funding from sources such as the Bank of Industry (BOI), the N1 billion Nollywood Fund, which is accessible to movie makers who qualify for the loan at N50 million each, and NEXIM Bank’s funding for the Nigerian creative industry, with over N778.5million and many applications for funding under processing, the entertainment industry is set to contribute significantly to the Nigerian economy by 2019.
Things are further looking up in the cinema sub-sector of the Nigerian entertainment industry which now attracts over N15 billion investments in big screen business across the country.
With good return on investment for the likes of Silverbird Cinemas, The Filmhouse Cinemas, Genesis Deluxe Cinema, among others who have invested over N10 billion in the big screen business in the last ten years, more investments are coming in cinemas to boost the revenue earnings and further contribute in helping the entertainment industry to achieve the US$8 billion annual revenue target in 2019.
Already, mega shopping malls are boosting cinema growth with at least one cinema in a mall, while filmmakers are curbing piracy with movie premieres at cinemas.
Tunbosun Kola-Daisi, chief executive officer, Mobile Screens and Sound Limited (MSSL) says the industry is currently estimated to be contributing 1.4 percent of GDP , is next to oil, and will in the next ten years, overtake the oil and gas industry, and agriculture in contribution to the nation’s GDP.
Kola-Daisi says industry stakeholders including MSSL, which is Nigeria’s foremost entertainment industry equipment deployment company, are already engaging in different collaborations, exchanges and partnership, to help the industry in achieving the revenue feat by 2019 and even beyond.
Part of the efforts at helping the industry achieve the revenue target, according to Kola-Daisi, are the technical partnerships in establishing assembly plants for entertainment equipment in Nigeria. The MSSL CEO said his company is set to build a basic entertainment equipment plant in the country, having been in the business of leasing, installation and maintenance of audio/visual equipment for ten years.
Beyond curbing capital flight and boosting revenue, producing the equipment in the country will take care of the great vacuum that existed in the industry, especially in the areas of quality production and equipment deployment, he said.
Also speaking on the estimated growth, Osere Alakhume, Partner and Technology, Information, Communication & Entertainment Leader, PwC Nigeria, said Nigeria is one of the most populous entertainment and media markets which will produce comparatively higher entertainment and media growth rates in 2016.
Describing entertainment and media as dynamic, diverse industries with steady and sustainable growth, Alakhume who spoke in reference to PwC’s Global entertainment and media outlook 2016–2020, noted that: “In 36 out of the 54 countries covered by PwC’s Outlook, entertainment and media spending is growing more rapidly than GDP, often by a factor of more than 50 percent. Venezuela tops the list; entertainment and media spending growth there is likely to outpace GDP growth by more than 14 percentage points in 2016. Many of the most populous entertainment and media markets—including Brazil, Pakistan, and Nigeria—will also produce comparatively higher entertainment and media growth rates”.
To fully play and take advantage of opportunities in the industry, Alakhume urged entertainment and media companies in Nigeria to seek to tap into pockets of growth and value in an increasingly complex and competitive global marketplace, and surging demand from young consumers, which is opening up fresh areas of opportunity for incumbents and new entrants alike.
Michael Odiong of Premier Records noted that the Nigeria music scene is further dominating the African music scene with collaborations among musicians, while record labels are partnering with distribution companies to ensure less revenue leakage.
He further said that as entertainment has gone digital, all stakeholders need to collaborate, seek technical partnerships, improve on promotions and distributions and also take advantage of new platforms in order to reach out to a global audience and improve on revenue generation in the long run.
OBINNA EMELIKE
