Amazon Prime Video has resorted to Nigeria in search of content, where it has struck crucial deals with studios that could shake up the industry in Africa's most prolific movie powerhouse.
Inkblot Productions and Anthill Studios have secured exclusive streaming agreements with the US giant in recent months, claiming that the partnerships will fundamentally change the way they operate.
Inkblot Productions, the studio behind local hits "The Wedding Party" and "Up North," has signed a three-year license contract with CNN Business, according to Chinaza Onuzo, co-founder. Following their theatrical premiere, Inkblot's forthcoming films will be released on Amazon's platform.
"This allows us to plan for the long term," adds Onuzo. Rather than commissioning films one by one, the business is looking into possible intellectual property deals and franchise potential in Inkblot's current properties. "It has allowed us to diversify the genres that we investigate (and) to engage with a broader mix of directors and talents," he adds.
Anthill Studios is a film and animation studio that has released films such as "Prophetess" and "Day of Destiny" (the latter a co-production with Inkblot). In a multi-year deal, its films will also be available on Prime Video after a theatrical window.
"We jumped at the deal," recalls Niyi Akinmolayan, the company's founder and creative director. "We've almost increased our budgets... we've been a lot more adventurous with the resources."
Nigeria's film industry, nicknamed "Nollywood," produces thousands of movies every year and the country's entertainment and media market is projected to have double-digit growth between 2021 and 2025, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Amazon's deal with Inkblot in December 2021 was the first of its kind to be struck between the streaming giant, which has 200 million subscribers, and an African studio. The Anthill deal followed a month later.
Anthill's Akinmolayan, also a film director, says Amazon has been hands off so far. "They're not telling you the kind of films to make," he says. "They have zero input on creativity -- that's very appealing to any filmmaker."
This is intentional, Amazon suggests. "We believe that if Nollywood filmmakers focus on telling compelling, authentic, hyper-local and universally accessible stories -- that are grounded in the rich history, lived experiences and culture of Nigeria -- those stories will travel and will engage audiences around the world," said Ayanna Lonian, director of content acquisition and head of worldwide major studio licensing strategy at Amazon Prime Video, in an email to CNN.
Lonian says the aim is to both diversify Prime Video's offering to its global audience and make the platform a more appealing product for Nigerian audiences.
Amazon does not share subscriber figures for individual countries. Akinmolayan believes the Nigerian diaspora will be the primary beneficiary of the new content, explaining that awareness of the subscription service in Nigeria was not high. "Very few people know that they can actually download the Amazon app and pay for it here," he says, "that's because Amazon hasn't fully unleashed a plan for (the service)."
In the meantime, the deals could have an impact on domestic cinemas.
Anthill's deal involves separate licenses for each film, the value of which is determined in part by the film's theatrical box office. This is an incentive to "build cinema culture," Akinmolayan argues.
"Even though it feels to a lot of people that (streaming) platforms are coming to kill cinemas, in this case they will probably do the reverse and actually encourage people to make more for cinema," he says.
