Popular video-on-demand platform, iROKOtv is coming to East Africa in the coming 7 days. This is according to the controversial founder, Jason Njoku, in less than 140 characters.
Expansion mode. IROKOtv East Africa. On route to Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. All in 7days
— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) July 13, 2014
Just to shed some light, iROKOtv has been lauded as the Netflix of Africa by the international media. A popular video on demand and streaming service in the U.S. iROKOtv has aggregated the world’s largest online Nollywood catalogue, now standing at 5,000+ movies.
In the coming week iROKOtv will be expanding to Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in pursuit to growing it’s continental user base. Just like how Tecno closed its operations in Asia to entirely focus on Africa, iROKOtv is heeding the same path.
According to Jason’s blog, iROKOtv just closed operations in its London office. Jason says, the major reason why iROKOtv greatly relies on the diaspora is because of the low levels of internet adoption on the continent. However, according to TechCabal, Expanding to East Africa seems like the logical next step towards securing iROKOtv’s future. While Nigeria remains their primary market, it generates only around 3% of iROKOtv’s annual revenue. iROKOtv is currently active in 170 countries with an estimated 75,000 paying subscriber base. Expanding to East Africa has the potential to be more rewarding for iROKOtv, as the market is more mature when it comes to broadband infrastructure.
But that is changing, he says, “Africa is no longer the future. Africa is now!”
Image via Techloy