In January 2016, when Netflix announced its expansion into Africa, Jason Njoku, the founder of Iroko TV, was defiant. Writing on his blog, he declared that Netflix being in Nigeria had “zero impact on iROKO” and their “vision for the future.”
His reasoning seemed sound at the time: “If it’s Nollywood fanatics, you know those guys can watch 3-5 hours per day, so Iroko Tv is still the only place they can find most of what they are looking for.”
The irony is palpable today. Nearly a decade later, the very platform that once confidently dismissed Netflix’s threat is teetering on the brink of collapse.
Becoming African Netflix
Iroko TV launched in 2011 with the vision to make Nollywood content accessible globally through video-on-demand streaming. As Africa’s first major streaming platform, it quickly earned the moniker “African Netflix” and attracted substantial investment totalling $42 million from both local and international backers.
The platform expanded across Africa, launching in Kenya via StarTimes in 2015 and entering South Africa through DVD distribution in 2013.
Jason Njoku’s confidence in 2016 wasn’t entirely misplaced. At the time, Iroko TV had carved out a unique niche as “the home of Nollywood,” with a substantial international subscriber base. Remarkably, about 55% of its subscription base came from the US and UK markets that were Netflix’s traditional strongholds. The platform seemed to have found its sweet spot, serving Nollywood content to both local audiences and the African diaspora worldwide.
The Beginning of the End
However, cracks began to show as early as 2016. The Nigerian naira’s devaluation became a persistent thorn in Iroko TV’s side, effectively halving subscription revenues from N3,000 ($18) in 2015 to N3,000 ($8.33) by 2017. This currency crisis would prove to be a recurring nightmare for the platform.
The situation deteriorated further with the COVID-19 pandemic. While Iroko TV initially saw a 200% spike in international subscriptions in April 2020, this proved short-lived. Between April and July 2020, the platform lost approximately 70% of its subscribers. The economic fallout was devastating, with subscription costs plummeting to $6.30 as the naira fell to N477 per dollar.
Njoku’s response was swift but painful. In September 2020, he announced the layoff of 150 staff members, explaining: “Between the COVID-19 fallout, rapidly devaluing the currency and hostile regulatory environment, it’s time to pause the burn. It’s time to hunker down and see what the next 18 months bring.”
The Pivot Away from Africa
The pandemic forced Iroko TV into a dramatic strategic shift. In a blog post that would prove prophetic, Njoku announced: “Over the next week, IROKO will be defocusing our Africa growth efforts and we will revert to focusing on higher ARPU customers in North America and Western Europe.”
This pivot wasn’t entirely new, Njoku had long recognized the challenges of building a streaming business in Africa. As he explained: “Even after pushing incredibly hard in Africa for the last 5 years, our international business represents 80% of our revenue today, so by taking out Africa’s growth-related costs, we cut our $300,000 per month burn to less than $50,000 per month.”
The stark reality was that while Iroko TV was making $6.30 per subscription in Nigeria, it was earning $25-30 per user internationally. The economics were clear, even if the emotional cost was high.
The Content Crisis
A critical blow came in 2019 when Iroko TV sold its content production arm, ROK Studios, to French media giant Canal+ Group for an undisclosed sum. This sale, which Njoku had previously said would never happen, severed Iroko TV from its primary source of original content.
The irony was stark. In 2018, Njoku wrote: “No one really cares about IROKOtv. Yes, it’s a brand they have come to know and love… But what they are really interested in and fall in love with is the content. ROK on DStv demonstrated this fact, without a shadow of a doubt.”
Yet barely a year later, he sold the very asset he had identified as the platform’s core value proposition. The sale left Iroko TV dependent on Canal+ for content, a relationship that would prove problematic. By 2023, former employees reported that ROK Studios had paused content distribution to Iroko TV, leaving subscribers frustrated with old content and broken promises of weekly new releases.
Technical Troubles and User Exodus
Internal documents seen by TechCabal reveal the scale of Iroko TV’s decline. The platform had one of its best months in January 2022 with 192,174 active users, but by the end of that year, those numbers had plummeted to just 46,000, a devastating 76% decline.
The technical problems were numerous. Users reported that the mobile app disappeared from both Apple and Android app stores, with some tracing the malfunction back to June 2023. Subscribers complained about being unable to access promised new content, with customer support initially attributing problems to users’ internet connections before discovering the content supply issues.
“The app has needed fixing since the start of the year, but for months, the engineering team remained more occupied with Njoku’s other products—BettyBingo and Black Bet,” according to a source cited in the documents, though Iroko TV disputed this claim.
The Marketing Collapse
The platform’s marketing efforts also suffered. Company data shows that in January 2022, Iroko TV spent over $4,000 on advertisements, bringing in over 4,000 subscriptions. By February, spending was halved, resulting in fewer than 1,500 subscriptions. Eventually, paid marketing campaigns were halted altogether, with the team relying solely on organic methods.
The human cost was significant. Employees reported being laid off without notice, with some discovering they couldn’t access their Slack or email accounts. One former remote contractor claimed they hadn’t been paid for work completed before being terminated.
Denying The Shutdown Rumours
By September 2023, Iroko TV’s website went offline and its mobile app disappeared from app stores. This triggered widespread speculation about a shutdown. Njoku quickly denied these rumours, explaining to TechCabal: “We’ve been migrating platforms for the last few weeks, so the site has been in maintenance mode.”
The migration, he claimed, was necessary to serve a primarily international audience with faster internet speeds and smart TV capabilities. However, the transition has been rocky, with promises of returning “as quickly as this week” failing to materialize months later.
The Broader Context
Iroko TV’s struggles reflect broader challenges facing African streaming platforms. The continent’s streaming market had an estimated 3.75 million subscribers in 2020, with Iroko TV accounting for just 8.6% of that market. Low internet speeds, expensive data plans and limited purchasing power have made Africa a challenging market for streaming services.
Meanwhile, global giants like Netflix have indeed entered the African market, though perhaps not in the way Njoku initially anticipated. Netflix’s strategy has focused more on local content production and partnerships rather than direct competition with Nollywood-focused platforms.
A Painful Reflection
In November 2023, Njoku offered a candid reflection on Iroko TV’s journey: “Between 2015 and 2020, IrokoTV invested $30 million in Nigeria, facing losses and devaluations that threatened the company’s stability.” He acknowledged the challenges of maintaining company culture during difficult times: “It’s not pretty; the culture will change, no matter how much you attempt to retain the culture; as the team moves to pure sustainable output focus, it changes.”
Despite the challenges, Njoku remained optimistic about the platform. By the company’s 12th anniversary in December 2023, he expressed confidence that the company would continue to thrive. However, the reality suggests a platform struggling to maintain relevance in an increasingly competitive market.
The Irony In Njoku’s Confidence
The story of Iroko TV is a sobering reminder of how quickly the digital landscape can shift. In 2016, Njoku’s confidence seemed justified after all his platform had carved out a unique niche, attracted substantial investment and built a global audience for African content. His dismissal of Netflix’s threat appeared to be based on solid strategic thinking about content differentiation and market positioning.
Yet the very challenges he downplayed including the difficulties of building internet TV in Africa, the economic pressures of currency devaluation, and the relentless need for fresh content, ultimately proved to be the factors that brought his platform to its knees.
Today, as Iroko TV struggles with technical issues, content shortages and a shrinking user base, Njoku’s 2016 declaration that Netflix would have “zero impact” on his platform reads like a tragic prophecy in reverse. The streaming giant may not have directly caused Iroko TV’s decline, but the highly adaptive landscape it represented has proven too challenging for the African pioneer to navigate successfully. The question now is whether Iroko TV can complete its promised transformation and find new life serving the African diaspora.
