BattaBox grew to popularity during the #OccupyNigeria protest as it allowed for users to upload and stream live videos for free on its YouTube channel. After the protest, it went on to the streets to cover interesting lives of Nigerians to share with world. However, as confirmed by the founder, Christian Purefoy, video production is quite expensive in Nigeria, and with a team working incredibly hard to get premium local content, it was an easy and timely call to put up a pay wall.
Although, monetization is new, BattaBox is convinced that people will pay for content they value and enjoy, and is not relenting in plans to have more people that support the whole process of creating better content. With the largest audience of the service based in the United States, the subscription goes for $1/month and $10/year, while those in Nigeria and the UK can get monthly access for N160.00 and 60p respectively.
Due to the new pay wall, users cannot no longer embed or share videos, and YouTube is a no-no for the service, except for video promotions such as the one below:
As regard to figures on subscription, BattaBox was not open to sharing numbers, but admitted the response has been amazing and has no regrets making a decision of setting up a pay wall. Users do get to have 3 free views per day, after which they can choose to subscribe.
With really interesting videos like The Osun Oshogbo Festival, to Made-In-Nigeria Rocket Car, one can only assume there is an appetite for content BattaBox offers. Whether the appetite is strong enough for people to pay the giveaway subscription fee is another matter.
Update // October 1, 2013: BattaBox joins in the celebration of Nigeria Independence giving 48 Free views, so why not check out some interesting videos at battabox.com
