Over the past few decades, the Nigerian movie industry has no doubt, evolved rapidly, gaining the attention of moguls in the media market across the globe.
One of such media group is Canal+ Group and as if to get a big slice in the Nollywood cake, Canal+ Group has acquired Nigerian largest production studio, ROK film studios from VOD company, IROKO TV.
According to a media release by Canal+ Group, the acquisition represents a key stage in Canal+ Group’s international expansion. “It allows the group to be present across the entire Nollywood value chain, and acquire unique expertise in the mass production of African fiction – films, series, and entertainment.”
ROK studio, which was launched in 2013 by Nigerian producer and actor, Mary Njoku, is the country’s largest production house with over 500 movies and 25 TV shows.
Njoku noted in a press release issued to CNN, that the decision of Canal+ to work with ROK is influenced by the fact that the studio has the ability to produce large-scale Nollywood content.
“They (Canal+) wanted an organization that could supply their studio with Nollywood content. They have some channels in Francophone Africa and wanted a supply of African content for those channels,” she told CNN.
“When a company as big as Canal+ acknowledges and is ready to work with us to export Nollywood, it sends out a positive signal to the movie industry. Filmmakers are assured that they are doing something right,” she added.
This move by Canal+ is no doubt one that was carefully decided, considering Nollywood’s current reach of 15 million subscribers across DSTV and GOTV platforms.
Canal+ now offers Nollywood TV, a fiction channel dedicated to people who subscribe to their Nigerian movies in African Francophone countries.
This move will no doubt increase viewership of Nigerian content and by extension, put the Country’s movie industry in competition with other leading industries such as Netflix.
