Amazon Prime Video today announced the launch of the localized version of its streaming service in one of Africa’s largest markets: Nigeria. Just as it did in Southeast Asia a few days ago, the tech giant is trying to boost its subscriber drive in new markets like Africa by increasing its investment in local production, featuring localized original listings, and introducing discounted Amazon Prime membership deals for the clients.
Amazon Prime Video launched in Africa in 2016 as part of its global push to more than 200 countries around the world, bringing serious competition to Netflix’s global plan launched that same year. However, the versions of the service available in the region have never featured the local language interfaces, subtitles and original content offerings typical of more developed markets.
That changes today in Nigeria and across Africa as the company plans to launch in other markets like South Africa. In a tweet from its official account, Prime Video Naija, the company said that customers in Nigeria can stream more than 20,000 original TV shows and movies within its ecosystem, such as “The Boys”, “All or Nothing”, “Reacher ” and “All the old knives”. According to its website, the service will cost ₦2300/month (~$4) after a seven-day trial. So, for the first time, users in Nigeria will be able to subscribe to Prime Video using their local currency, and unlike how most have accessed the platform for region-specific content in the past, they won’t need a VPN to stream. content on the service.
Prime Video and other streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Canal+ and Showmax are vying for Africa’s projected 15 million video-on-demand subscribers by 2026. According to Digital TV Research, an analytics company, Prime Video has 600,000 subscribers in Africa. and could add 1.5 million new subscribers compared to Netflix’s 3 million subscribers over the next four years.
To gain more market share amid a streaming war for African content and eyeballs, Prime Video has been collaborating with filmmakers and content creators in Nigeria regarding the production of original and licensed content. In recent months, the service has made strategic moves, including closing theatrical release deals with Anthill Studios, Inkblot Productions, and Evoke Studios, hiring Insight Publicis as its creative agency, and hiring top executives like Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu. , director of Nigerian Local. Originals, to develop original video content in Nigeria, the largest film industry in Africa.
Amazon Prime Video’s first Nigerian show is “Gangs of Lagos”, a local original crime action film that follows the lives of three friends as they navigate the streets of Isale Eko in Lagos, Nigeria’s market city, scheduled for release by the end of this year.
