Showmax: A Treasure Trove of Nollywood Content

The holiday season is upon us and with it, a multitude of content vying for our viewing time and entertainment Naira. Whether you are in Nigeria or in the diaspora and you love Nollywood, you are most likely looking for the best in the industry. This is where Showmax comes in.

The platform created in 2015 has a plethora of Nollywood content – movies and series. There, you can poke through a trove of brilliant programming, enough to keep you glued to your screen throughout this holiday season.

Showmax is not just delighting the local audience, it is also exporting Nigerian series and movies to an international audience, most recently, the UK. This includes the latest episodes of Africa Magic’s hit shows – Dilemma, Venge, The Rishantes, Movement Japa, Riona, Enakhe and more.

With its treasure trove of Nollywood content, it’s hard to believe that Showmax is just six years old. Year on year, the platform is innovating in so many ways, and it’s gearing up to overtake other streaming platforms to become Nigerians’ number one favourite.

The year 2020 was a huge year for online streaming platforms partly due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise in demand for streaming services was radical at that time and the demand is still growing.

According to PwC, time spent streaming increased by almost 75 per cent in 2020. This has given rise to plenty of innovations pledging to change the world.

In some ways, Showmax is making the lives of millions of people awesome by providing access to on-demand varieties of movies and shows, particularly those proudly made in Nigeria. In the last financial year, Showmax’s subscriber base grew by 45 per cent.

Considering its massive investment in the Nigerian movie industry in the last decade through the MultiChoice Talent Factory and other initiatives, birthing a streaming platform in 2015 made perfect sense for MultiChoice.

The more content it produced, the more subscribers it attracted. This, in turn, resulted in higher revenues, which meant more funding for the Nigerian movie industry in a virtuous cycle of constant growth.

The good news is that the movie streaming app is improving astronomically, in terms of movie selection and overall quality. And it cost far less, too. For approximately the price of a movie time at the cinema — about ₦1,200 — you can subscribe to Showmax which brings the cinema experience to you and redefines family time.

Showmax subscription which starts at ₦1200, costs less than a single tub of popcorn at a cinema. It allows anyone to stream or download series, movies, Showmax Originals and kids’ shows.

On the other hand, Showmax Pro which starts at ₦3200 allows you to stream or download series, movies, kids’ shows, live games from SuperSport, news and more. In addition to the ₦3200 you layout for a Showmax Pro subscription, you will be paying for four other family and friends to have access to the pool of hundreds of Nollywood movies on the platform.

Film buffs who have a soft spot for romantic movies will find a variety of movies like The Cleaner, Gaslight, and Where Lovers Meet to suit their needs. Others who would rather enjoy the thrill of long-form content like series will have a field day with Baby Drama, Movement Japa, Unmarried, Hush, Unbroken and more.

There’s even something for people whose biggest kink is laughing. With shows like Ghana Jollof, Three Wise Men, and Do Good, they’ll be laughing until they cry. The Influencer, Night Bus to Lagos, Just Before Dark, Atarodo, 2 Rich, 2 Poor, Hooked, Best Friends, are other out-of-the-gate hits on Showmax.

But the Nigerian content transcends beyond just movies with a plethora of Nigerian reality TV, anyone can escape the mundaneness of their life and catch a thrill of others. Shows like Mercy What Next, I am LAYCON, and Shoot Your Shot, will do just the trick.

As the holiday season gradually approached, Showmax also unveiled a lineup of Christmas movies available to subscribers and they rolled out every day until December 25, 2021, as the platform aims to keep its growing subscriber base engaged throughout the season.

The lineup featured magical stories, fabulous festive comedies, and award-winning films. The Africa Magic Holiday pop-up channel is also available to watch on Showmax.

As the world of film is changing, viewers now want content to be accessible, plentiful and tailored to them. And they want to watch it from their sofa.

With the Nollywood industry growing steadily every year, it only makes sense that Showmax is tapping into it.

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put out a report in September 2021 that the industry released 1,051 movies in the first half of the year. This accounted for 1.7 per cent higher than movies produced in the corresponding period of 2020.

In the same vein, PwC projects that Nollywood has the potential to become the country’s greatest export, with a projected annual growth rate of 8.6 per cent and a compound annual growth rate of 19.3 per cent from 2018-2023.

In a report released by the International Trade Administration in October 2021, PwC indicated that in this year, Nigeria’s film industry has contributed 2.3 per cent and about ₦239 billion ($660 million) to the country’s GDP. It projects that the industry will increase its export revenue earnings to over $1 billion.

With such great estimations for the industry, along with the fact that Nollywood is widely regarded as the third-best film industry in the world, it’s hardly surprising to see Showmax making such vast investments. And if they are anywhere as smart as they’ve shown to be, they’ll continue to promote and support Nigerian content with as many resources needed to keep being a market leader.