PwC, one of the leading consulting firms in the world has projected that Nigeria’s Entertainment and Media (E &M) industry’s revenue will rise from $7.68 billion in 2021 to $14.82 billion in 2025.
In its latest industry report titled “Perspectives from the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2021-2025, PwC says internet access, a major segment in the E & M industry, will generate 85 percent of the country’s E & M revenue by 2025, insights gained from the report have revealed.
Revenue generated by players in Nigeria’s E & M’s industry is expected to rise from $7.68 billion in 2021 to $9.03 billion in 2022, to $10.66 billion in 2023, and will increase further to $12.56 billion in 2024 before settling at $14.82 billion by 2025, culminating to an average growth rate of 18 percent during the period.
Internet access segment’s revenue accounts for 78 percent of the country’s E & M industry revenue, a noticeable improvement in 2016 when it accounted for 61 percent of the entertainment and media industry’s revenue in Nigeria.
“There has been a major shift in the entertainment and media industry in recent times. During the lockdown, how many shows did musicians do? Very few, and yet they made so much money. The question now is, how did they do it? The new direction is the internet platform.
Musicians, comedians, and other players in the entertainment and media industry, after releasing songs will ask their fans to stream online. They don’t even want you to buy their CDs because those are already phasing out. That is how they have been making their money.
“It is now a game of numbers as the more fans you have, the more streaming time you get. They use different platforms like iTunes, audiomack, Youtube, Bigo, etc”, says Okobia ThankGod Teekay, a leading entertainer in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, with the rising demand for streaming services due to the pandemic imposed lockdown and work from home policy, the internet access revenue segment in Nigeria is expected to gain more market share in the next few years, the report forecasts. Internet access based services such as subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), over-the-top (OTT), transactional video on demand (TVOD), are projected to have robust growth from now through 2025.
“Changes in consumer behaviour have driven powerful shifts in Entertainment & Media (E & M) business models. Foremost among these shifts is the way the streaming boom of 2020 has set the industry on a new growth trajectory.
“In fact, we may be moving into a new phase of streaming growth—one that is more measured, more focused on improving the experience of customers, and more intent on retaining and creating value from the immense subscriber bases that have materialised. At the heart of it lies an arms race for content. A common strategy for achieving both goals—a better experience and higher retention—is commissioning large amounts of material that is recorded and viewed at customers’ convenience”, the report says.
The PwC report provides forecasts on thirteen business segments in Nigeria’s entertainment and media industry. These are business to business, consumer books, traditional TV and home video, OTT video, internet access, as well as newspaper and consumer magazine.
Others are out-of-home advertising, video games and esports, VR, TV advertising, Cinema, internet advertising, and then Music, radio, and podcast. In all of these business segments in Nigeria’s E & M industry, only internet access is projected to gain more market share from 78 percent in 2021 to 85 percent in 2025. In other words, internet access’ revenue in the E & M industry in Nigeria will rise from $6.02 billion in 2021 to $12.5 billion by 2025, PwC says.
The traditional TV and home video market segment is the second biggest market in Nigeria’s E & M industry. However, due to competition from other sources, its market share is projected to decline from 9 percent in 2021 to 6 percent in 2025, corresponding to from $692 million in 2021 to $865 million in 2025.
The Cinema segment’s revenue, which declined due to the pandemic imposed lockdowns and subsequently reduced to $2 million in 2020 with a slight rise to $7 million in 2021, is expected to rise to $12 million by 2025.
On the contrary, the market share of newspaper and consumer magazine, out-of-home advertising, and TV advertising segments are expected to reduce to 1 percent each by 2025, with their revenue in five years’ time at $173 million, $158 million, and $179 million respectively.
Source: Business Day NG
