Netflix has denied the claims that it’s existing the Nigeria streaming market and insists that it’ll continue to invest in the country’s contents. The report “Netflix is leaving Nigeria” was previously published on at least three reputable publications after a popular nollywood actor Kunle Afolayan fueled the speculation at the 2024 Zuma International Film Festival.
Afolayan revealed that Netflix terminated several films it had previously commissioned from filmmakers. The filmmakers affected were not cite but reflecting on Afolayan’s speculation about the matter, he shared that signing a three-film deal with Netflix three years ago was initially thrilling, especially as those films performed exceptionally well globally.
However, he noted that Netflix is not pleased with their returns in Nigeria. “Thank God we had shot seasons two and three [of Anikulapo],” Afolayan said, explaining that other filmmakers commissioned at the same time were not as fortunate, as their projects were canceled.
See the shares of Netflix customers by countries in Africa 2024 in the infographic below:
Meanwhile, Afolayan did not explicitly mention that Netflix will exist the Nigeria. However, note that Amazon Prime, once one of Netflix competitors in Nigeria, exist the country in January 2024. The company claimed that it had restructured its international business to focus on European originals only.
In a nutshell, Netflix says it’s not leaving Nigeria and it’ll continue to invest in Nigerians cinematic productions.
