Nollywood and the home video revolution: implications for marketing videofilm in Africa

Abstract

PurposeIn the last 15 years, Nigeria has developed a feature film industry based on video and video compact disc distribution which currently produces over 600 films a year making Nigeria (in terms of numbers) one of the largest film producing nations in the world. English language films (Nollywood) have become a dominant media form all over the African continent. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implications of this phenomenon for marketing video film in Africa, and examine the structure of the industry.Design/methodology/approachUsing the case study method, the paper examines how a technological innovation such as video home system (VHS) is being used in ways never imagined or intended by the innovators. Consequently, the emergence and proliferation of inexpensive VHS video tape recorders have led to the growth of video‐based movie production in several African countries, especially Nigeria.FindingsIt is hoped that findings of this case study will provide the basis for future scholarly analysis of the economy of the Nollywood industry, and also provide a template for practitioners to engage in future research in video film in Africa.Originality/valueThere have been no studies of Nollywood published to date.