Nollywood, music sector boom adds N1.97 trillion to GDP

Nigeria’s movie, music, and entertainment industries have grown by 27.46 per cent in the last three years.

The worth of this industry rose to N1.97 trillion in 2023 from N1.55 trillion in 2020, according to nominal (today’s value) Gross Domestic Price figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. This industry consists of activities such as motion pictures, sound recording and music production, arts, entertainment, and recreation.

Motion pictures, sound recording, and music production dominate the sector’s contributions, with 82.16 percent (N1.62 trillion). In its GDP report, the NBS highlighted that this segment of the industry’s contribution is from revenue generated/total sales from the number of movies and sound recordings produced, including revenue generated from TV rights, royalties, and fees.

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Nigeria’s movie and music scene has recorded increased investments in recent years, the acceptance and boom of Afrobeats, and the bet on the local market by foreign players like Netflix, etc.

In 2023, Netflix said it had invested over $23 million in the Nigerian film industry in the last seven years, supporting 5,140 jobs. This amount translated to over 250 local licensed titles. The global streaming platform noted, “Through direct, indirect, and expenditure impacts across the economy, our investments have contributed $39 million towards GDP, $34 million towards household income, and $2.6 million towards tax revenue.”

In recent years, movies like King of Boys and Black Book, amongst others, have gone on to critical acclaim. In November 2023, Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary for economic and business affairs at the United States Department of State, stated that several US entertainment companies are making large bets on the Nigerian market.

“Several US film and entertainment companies, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Paramount, are making large investments in the Nigerian market and are seeing strong prospects for future investments. I want to see many more investments and increased commercial ties,” he said.

However, in early 2024, Amazon Prime disclosed that it would lay off staff and scale back its local content production in Africa and the Middle East.

The sustained growth of the movie industry has also been tied to the resurgence of cinema culture. Between 2021 and 2023, the Nigerian box office generated a cumulative revenue of N19 billion. In 2021, revenue from the box office was N4.74 billion, it rose to N6.94 billion in 2022, and N7.24 billion in 2023.

According to the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria, people spent N1.2 billion on movies at the cinema in January 2024.

The association noted that this is a 50 percent increase in revenue year over year. Also, the entrants of streaming platforms and the increasing appeal of Afrobeat have aided the growth of the country’s music industry.

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In 2023, Spotify Wrapped revealed that Nigerian local music demand soared, with consumption marking an impressive 284 percent surge. According to Statista, Nigeria’s music sector revenue grew from $26 million in 2014 to $34 million in 2018. This figure was projected to hit $44 million in 2023, according to the insight outfit.

A 2023 report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry revealed that music revenue in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries grew by 24.7 percent, driven by a surge in paid streaming revenues, which climbed 24.5 percent.

Bemigho Awala, a documentary filmmaker, told BusinessDay that technology and consumer choice influenced by the widespread adoption of mobile internet have played a significant role in the growth of the music and movie industry.

“The reasons are not far-fetched – globally, there’s been a push and demand for media and entertainment products towards a single global market across the entertainment spectrum,” he said.

He noted that Afrobeats and Nollywood movies are making good numbers on these streaming platforms, which translates to revenue growth.

“The Afrobeat genre of Nigerian music has brought some sort of FOMO on the international circuits even as our artistes are selling out venues abroad, locally Nollywood films are doing interesting and humongous numbers in the cinema and on streaming platforms. So, I think we can all agree that there’s actual growth there that we can point to,” Awala stated.

The growth in marketing and business development in the movie and music ecosystem is creating the local and global demand for Nigerian content, Imal Silva, artist and creative policy expert, said.

“However, the problem is that many of them marketing our talents are not Nigerian companies, so most of the money they are generating is going out of the country because we do not have that value chain sufficiently supplied by Nigerian companies,” he noted.

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Despite the great numbers, music and movie enthusiasts believe there is still much work to be done because of the country’s potential. A 2023 report by the Nigerian Entertainment Conference revealed that the Nigerian entertainment industry may reach an estimated $14.82 billion in revenue growth in 2025.