Content production and distribution is a budding field which holds interesting potentials for entrepreneurs, especially those who understand content enough to fashion solutions out of it. All around the world, it is said that content is king; this is no different in Africa where people are ready to consume quality content. That is the need Afrinolly addresses.
Overview
Afrinolly is a mobile phone application which allows you to stream African movies, music videos and comedy. Its primary focus is to enable users to watch African movies and music video, and you can also get latest entertainment news and celebrity gossip on your mobile device. With over two million downloads across Android, BlackBerry, Nokia, Java and Amazon Kindle, Afrinolly is arguably the most downloaded entertainment app built in Africa.
Problem It Solves
African entertainment, especially Nollywood, is a fast growing industry that is well loved and has been accepted globally. As such, there was a need for a product that filled the space for African entertainment guides. That’s where Afrinolly came in. Serving as an enabler for filmmakers, movie producers, artists and entertainment distribution companies, Afrinolly ensures that entertainment lovers are well informed about content as soon as they become available. Also, it almost eliminates the extra cost that could go into movie publicity, serving as a huge boost for movie producers and the production process.
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Afrinolly makes movie trailers readily available for users to watch from their mobile devices. This is an essential step to raising interest in cinemas. The cinema culture was on its way to extinction until some major cinemas rose up to tackle the problem head-on. The efforts of such bodies would receive a great boost with the presence of an application like Afrinolly across Africa. Also, with a healthy cinema culture, it would be easier to fight piracy in the movie industry.
Unique Feature
Fully conceptualized and built in Nigeria, Afrinolly is an application with international quality. It uses a listing to draw user attention to exciting YouTube content, ultimately directing them to watch movie trailers on the filmmaker’s official YouTube channel. This way, it also creates publicity and the much needed awareness for the full length movie when it eventually goes to the cinema or gets released on DVD.
The content on Afrinolly home page are determined by the most viewed trailers, changing regularly to reflect the content that users view most. The Afrinolly app embraces user-generated content such as reviews and ratings, thus giving the average user the power to express their opinion about a particular movie or celeb. There are reviews posted by other users which are available before or after watching a movie trailer. The viewer also gets the opportunity to post their own review.
In a short time, Afrinolly has grown to such an extent that it could organize a short film competition, with $100,00 prize money, for budding filmmakers in Africa, allowing them to showcase their works and raise capital for feature films.
Value Proposition
Afrinolly enables users to watch African movies, trailers and short films. It also adds African music videos and free full length movies. Available on Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows and Nokia smartphones, Afrinolly provides the latest news and gossip about movies, music and celebrities in Africa. As the slogan goes, Afrinolly gives you “African movies in your pocket”.
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Conceived in May 2011 at G-Nigeria Summit in Lagos, Afrinolly was developed for the Android Developers Challenge for Sub-Saharan Africa, organized by Google. It claimed the first prize in the entertainment, media and games category at the continental competition. The app is one of the products offered by FansConnectOnline Limited, a Nigerian mobile application, digital marketing and social media startup headed by Chike Maduegbuna.
Potential Coverage
With the vast potential of locally developed African films, Afrinolly already has the required leverage to expand to places like Ghana, Kenya and South-Africa. They could easily build customized products for such markets and ultimately become a source feed for all of Africa, Africans in Diaspora, and lovers of African films all over the world.
Critique
Accused of inappropriate practices, the app was the subject of a lawsuit by Jason Njoku and Iroko Partners, a company that buys and organizes Nigerian content legally for hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, helping to combat piracy and ensuring movie producers are remunerated properly for their content.
Also with the enviable opportunity of getting pre-installed on Samsung Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note, Samsung Pocket and Samsung Galaxy S3, the market potential had become so huge that there was really no need to sign the contract for network restriction and exclusive branding with MTN Nigeria. It might limit the app’s growth potential in a market as big as Nigeria.
Conclusion
Afrinolly is a free app and they do not plan to charge users any time soon, but I hope it is kept that way. Staying true to their beliefs, they say it is all about balancing interests and creating value propositions for big brands.
