Streaming Quality, Streaming Cinema

Adejunmobi, Moradewun

doi:10.1002/9781119100577.ch10

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In less than a year, the channel attracted more than a million views from more than 200 countries, including Nigeria. Based on its success on YouTube, iROKOtv evolved in 2014 to become the first subscription video on-demand (VOD) service for Nollywood films (Adejunmobi, 2019; Thakkar, 2015). Ibakatv became the second Nigerian streaming service to debut in 2011, and from 2015 onward, more than 10 streaming portals have launched, and Nigerian YouTube channels continue to proliferate (Simon, 2022b).…”

Section: Streaming Infrastructure User Mobility and Formalisation Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, many are not culturally disposed to paying for entertainment content due to the informal dynamics that have historically shaped access, or are uncomfortable providing debit card details for online commerce. All of these factors complicate streaming operations in Africa (Adejunmobi, 2019; Dovey, 2018). However, Africa is still regarded as a growth market, with analysts forecasting that the continent will be the source of the next billion digital video consumers.…”

Section: Streaming Infrastructure User Mobility and Formalisation Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘They are now pocket videos, not home videos’: Streaming and reconfiguration of video consumption in Nigeria

Simon

2023

International Journal of Cultural Studies

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This article examines how streaming is altering established viewing practices that traditionally characterised video film consumption among domestic Nigerians. Following the creation of the Nigerian video industry (Nollywood) as a straight-to-video film industry, audiences watched movies solely through the technologies of television sets and video players. The fluid and opaque circulation of video copies located audience consumption practices within informal realms and communal spaces. This article analyses how streaming is catalysing a distinctive viewing culture in Nigeria. It argues that streaming is formalising access to Nollywood movies, upending the communal practices associated with legacy video viewing, and fostering an individualised viewing culture though some informal communal practices persist in the streaming ecosystem. By emphasising the role of smartphones and apps in the emergent streaming culture, this article demonstrates how streaming is restructuring the temporal, spatial, and affective features of audience engagements that traditionally characterised movies viewing in Nigeria.

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Section: Streaming Infrastructure User Mobility and Formalisation Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Streaming Infrastructure User Mobility and Formalisation Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘They are now pocket videos, not home videos’: Streaming and reconfiguration of video consumption in Nigeria

Simon

2023

International Journal of Cultural Studies

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“…It is worthy of note that while the streaming services are based in Nigeria, their audiences are mainly Africans in Africa and Africans in diaspora. This is because Nollywood films, which are at the core of their libraries, are consumed in all countries having African settlements across the globe (Adejunmobi, 2019;Okome, 2019). The following discussions about the creative strategies of streaming services within their African markets advance existing arguments on the centrality of context in theorizing conventions and practices that characterize film distribution in the digital space.…”

Section: Internet-distributed Video Research and The Necessity Of Contextualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although Internet penetration is increasing in Africa, yet it is not evenly distributed. Strong Internet connections are mainly limited to urban areas such as the capital cities of states while suburban areas and local communities are poorly connected or outrightly disconnected (Adejunmobi, 2019;Dovey, 2018). Even when connection is available, access is further complicated by slow download speeds, and affordability arising from economic limitations.…”

Section: Facilitating Access: Mobile Data/broadband and Economic Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adapting to context: Creative strategies of video streaming services in Nigeria

Simon

2021

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

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This article examines the contextual challenges that characterize the video on demand (VOD) market in Africa. It provides critical analysis of the creative strategies employed by Nigeria-based streaming services to navigate the peculiar business environment on the continent. This research is on the background of the poor Internet infrastructure and economic divides in many African countries including Nigeria. Streaming services operating in these markets must understand a context where Internet access is complicated on the levels of availability and/or affordability, including significant lack of confidence in e-payment facilities. All these, together with epileptic power supply and poor standard of living, indicate that streaming services must innovate to capture subscribers within the continent. Despite the harsh operational environment, streaming services in Nigeria have continued to increase in number within the past 5 years. This is attributed to the transnational reach of the streaming services as they are patronized by Africans in diaspora across the globe, while they also enjoy popularity within African countries. This article specifically focuses on the innovative strategies employed by Nigerian streaming services to operate within their African markets in the context of their peculiar challenges. In so doing, it extends extant scholarship about Internet-distributed video using the African context. This article is situated within the Media Industry Studies framework and draws from semi-structured interviews with 7 streaming executives in Nigeria and 10 creative professionals in the Nigerian Video Film Industry (Nollywood). It also relies on desk research of press reports, industry publications, as well as the interfaces of streaming portals. This article underscores the necessity of contextualized research with the digital turn in video distribution. Through contextualized analysis of VOD market realities in a less studied terrain like Africa, it aligns with scholarly call to expand theories of Internet-distributed video to marginal contexts.

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“… 2. For focused analysis of the challenges of the VOD market in Africa, and the strategies being adopted by streaming services, see Simon (2021), Dovey (2018) and Adejunmobi (2019).…”

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confidence: 99%

Producing Nollywood portal films: Navigating precarity through informal social relations and hope

Simon

2022

International Journal of Cultural Studies

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This article examines the production practices that underpin the production of portal films in the Nigerian video film industry (Nollywood). Following the recent surge in the number of streaming portals focusing on the distribution of Nollywood films, a nascent video on demand (VOD) market has been created. This new market has given rise to a crop of filmmakers who now produce straight-to-portal films. This article draws on semi-structured interviews with 30 industry stakeholders comprising producers, directors, writers, and streaming executives. Adopting a critical media industry studies approach, I argue that, in the face of pervasive precarity in the Nollywood VOD market, portal filmmakers adopt informal social relations and ‘hope labour’ in navigating productions and ensuring the market is sustained. The article contributes to extant research on Nollywood's production dynamics and extends existing debates about precarity in cultural industries through a less-studied context like Nollywood.

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Streaming Quality, Streaming Cinema

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

‘They are now pocket videos, not home videos’: Streaming and reconfiguration of video consumption in Nigeria

‘They are now pocket videos, not home videos’: Streaming and reconfiguration of video consumption in Nigeria

Adapting to context: Creative strategies of video streaming services in Nigeria

Producing Nollywood portal films: Navigating precarity through informal social relations and hope

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