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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1339792
recently released a robust roster of excellent films and TV shows from Nollywood (one of Africa’s most aggressive production locations). We’ve never seen our friend Devon be happier explaining the shows and creative work in painstaking details. He wasn’t prejudice. Nollywood has a whole lotta talent! Netflix has “imported” a rich and diverse set of Nigerian films/shows – comedies, dramas, thrillers, romcoms, the works – that we admitted were so good we blew a recent weekend – laughing, crying, screaming, cheering – streaming totally unique, different international content. Of course, they aren’t alone in the streaming market. There are a lot of deep-pocket folks who want their share of the streaming US (currently, the largest) and global market. There are other established US services that want to be the first or second choice streaming subscription service in the country – Disney +, Apple TV +, Amazon and Hulu as well as new, reconfigured organizations that are ready to play. Warner/AT&T/HBO Max could be a contender depending on their ability to figure out what to call the service; how much new, fresh content they’re willing to commit to the audience; and an honest look at the true value of their service to folks outside of their AT&T service bundle. Often compared to Disney – the folks with the greatest positive consumer awareness globally – AT&T/Warner has the necessary background of a legacy Hollywood studio but lacks the umbrella aura of the Mouse House. HBO Max isn’t the game-changer for AT&T as Disney+ is for Disney, Hulu and ESPN. Instead it is a more awkward product line extension, add-on. Apple is gaining a strong foothold in the market with high quality content combined with an attractive price ($7) or free with a new Apple Device. They already have nearly 40M subscribers and a global market potential of more than 950M Apple users worldwide. Comcast, which owns NBC and Sky, the largest broadband cable infrastructure and other entertainment opportunities, has been slow to roll out its Peacock service while also moving its free streaming service, Pluto, global as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Tencent already counts 112M subscribers and has plans to become a majority owner of iQiyi, China’s leading video service with 118M subscribers. China is well on its way to be come the largest M&E market, followed closely by India. While China provides tremendous streaming viewer opportunities, the market is a lot like MC Hammer’s hit song, Can’t Touch This. While the pandemic made streaming an important part of people’s lives, it also opened a world of opportunities for indie filmmakers and content producers everywhere. All of the streaming services – large and small – are only as popular as the new/original and legacy content they have in their libraries. Consumer taste is notoriously fickle. People are constantly on the hunt for a different version of the same type of show/movie they like to watch – cops, dramas, horror, superhero, etc., and they’ll switch shows/services in the blink of an eye based on online buzz, people’s recommendations or an interesting trailer/ad. With international platforms pushing to claim market share, streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon prime are aggressively looking for new content, unique content … everywhere. The goal is to fill their library with content that will attract new subscribers while keeping present viewers while broadcasters struggle to keep up with the “competition.” At the same time, the at-home consumers are focused on the simpler aspect … how to quickly, easily find the content they want to watch right now. For the entertainment-hungry consumer, the streaming stack is getting increasingly confusing--and expensive! One of the solutions approaches consumers may take is to turn to their most familiar content aggregators – the pay TV cable provider – with a streamlined