Tag: Jason Njoku
IROKOtv CEO Announces 2 New Services The Video Streaming Company Is Introducing
In one of his ever-detailed blog posts, IROKOtv CEO Jason Njoku announced 3 new services that the SVoD (Streaming Video on Demand) company will be introducing starting today. IROKOtv is important because it is one of the only African media companies who have been able to establish a sustainable model to offer a streaming service […]
iROKOtv CEO Says Econet’s Approach With Kwese Was Not Respectful To The Nature Of The Business
Lately, we’ve been covering iROKOtv a lot, and the fact that we were not doing so over the past year is downright CRIMINAL! Why? Well, iROKO is the only African video content platform that has been scaled widely and with Econet, TelOne and NetOne (at some point in the future) all trying their hand at […]
Founder Of iROKOtv Calls Rok Acquisition “Largest Media Deal In West African History”
Jason Njoku’s iROKOtv is one of the most successful African tech companies and even fewer companies on the African content to get Video on Demand right. Recently, ROK Studio, which made content for iROKOtv was acquired by Canal+ for an undisclosed fee. The deal is obviously a huge deal and Njoku shared that it’s the […]
Strive Masiyiwa “didn’t seem to grasp” Iroko’s VOD vision, says Nigerian startup founder, Njoku
In an article dedicated to demonstrating that it’s taking Africa’s richest people too long to grasp the opportunity of investing in internet ventures, Nigerian Video on Demand (VOD) entrepreneur Jason Njoku says Strive Masiyiwa didn’t seem to understand their VOD business when he spoke to him last year. Jason Njoku founded and leads what is now one of Africa’s largest VOD companies. Called […]
CEO of iROKOtv “Africa’s Netflix” shares thoughts on Netflix entering the continent
Jason Njoku, the larger than life personality behind iROKOtv, recently shared his own perspective on what Netflix in Africa really means for iROKOtv. Part of his blog post touched on how iROKOtv isn’t going to whither away because Netflix is in Africa.
iROKO & CANAL+ GROUP partner to introduce mobile TV to French speaking Africa
iROKOtv, the Nigerian subscription Video on Demand (sVOD) service that only recently launched a global content distribution arm, has announced that is has entered into a multi-million Euro deal with the CANAL + GROUP, the largest French pay TV provider which has a leading focus on Francophone Africa.
Advantages of B2B model for VOD startups more apparent as iROKO goes Global
In a sense, that is what content curators chasing the iROKO model might have to consider as well. The real revenues that warrant praise for a growing demand for African content are yet to be realised from a subscription based model in our environment.
Showmax to enable Game of Thrones downloads for African market
A report from Bloomberg cites a source who shared plans by Showmax to enable downloading of its content which includes movies and highly popular series like Game of Thrones. This is supposed to be a way of addressing the challenges the African market has with the high cost of internet and the sparse distribution of fixed internet solutions.
Death of Wabona gives glimpse of jungle called the African VOD market
The news that Wabona, an African content Video On Demand service shut down was a low moment for African tech and media startups. a number of aspects related to their model have stood out as weaknesses for a while now. Theirs represent most of the challenges in setting up a Pan-African VOD service. However, in the lessons, there are some opportunities that could also emerge for Wabona or other VOD services.
Here’s how Hotels.ng, an African internet startup has just raised $1,2 million
Hotels.ng a Nigerian internet startup has just secured $1.2 million in funding. In the context of African tech entrepreneurship, that is a significant sum. How did they do it though? We managed to get some insight from the CEO on what they have managed to do right so far.
If Netflix is coming to Zimbabwe, this is its real competition, and it’s not DStv
Zimbabweans love great television and movies. How else would you explain the way DVDs have become a permanent part of street-side vendor tapestry? Other than vegetables and rush-hour basic commodities, these DVDs only have to compete with WhatsApp vendors and phone repair services for more attention. It actually shows how big a potential market exists […]
Can Aflix compete in Africa’s (now cut throat) VOD Space? Here’s what we know
Recently, Video On Demand has been making some moves across the continent and you would think it’s the next big thing in Africa after the Telecoms revolution. In just a space of two weeks, South Africa went from zero to two legal VOD competitors to MultiChoice’s Box Office. First was Vidi, a streaming VOD […]
Rocket Internet to raise almost $1billion in IPO for expansion
Rocket Internet, the German company builder and incubator recently confirmed that it would be launching an Initial Public Offering (IPO) later this year on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Rocket Internet, which focuses on emerging markets and has a significant footprint in Africa has already established a presence in the Zimbabwean tech space through online real […]
Startup TV Yangu wants Africa to tell its own story through video
We all love great video content. It has an even greater impact if it’s got local relevance. Because of this appetite more and more local content creators are churning out productions but they face the challenge of limited online places where all this content can be consumed. TV Yangu, a local video on demand service […]
Rocket Internet is bad for the African tech startup ecosystem, says Njoku
Jason Njoku, the Nigerian co-founder of iROKO Partners, speaks his mind. Often enough and candid enough he has enough people criticising him, especially in Nigeria itself. Take this piece he wrote in January this year for example in which he decries the lack of local internet company champions in Nigeria, a problem which, he said, had created ample space for the likes of […]
Africa’s Netflix, iROKOtv, kills ads to focus on subscription VOD exclusively
Jason Njoku, the founder of what is arguably Africa’s largest online movie service, iROKOtv, announced today that his company is going to stop the free ad driven component of their Video on Demand service to focus exclusively on subscriptions. The announcement was made in a long blog post titled Killing iROKOtv posted on Njoku’s personal blog. In the announcement, Njoku describes the […]
iROKOtv founder: It is Naspers we are afraid of, not YouTube
When Google unveiled the new YouTube Partner Program in West and East African a couple of weeks ago, Njoku, the iROKOtv founder and CEO, explained in a blog post that contrary to what a lot of people deem to be the death of iROKOtv, he was unfazed by the news as their model and competition is actually not YouTube.
iROKOtv unfazed by Google’s YouTube partnering program, says Njoku
In a blog post yesterday, Jason Njoku, the iROKO founder however said the new YouTube program doesn’t bother them much as YouTube does not contribute much to their revenue anymore. He also says that much of the revenue doesn’t come from the YouTube advertising model but from other streams like licensing and monthly subscriptions.
Nigeria’s Spark incubator raises 2 million to invest in local startups
One of the few locally owned and NGO-free incubators on the African continent, Spark, announced last Friday that they have raised $2 million to invest in Nigerian startups. The incubator, which the co-founder – iROKOtv founder Jason Njoku – actually says is more a conglomerate of companies than a traditional companies invests amounts $50,000 and $250,000 in startups which are then “incubated” as part of the Spark companies.
Is JAM TV the future of TV?
At the recent JumpStart Challenge event Collin Franco, Utande’s CTO quoted an interesting stat, based on research that he had conducted about a year ago. He stated that 98% of Zimbabwe’s Internet traffic was from outside Zimbabwe. The paucity of ‘local content’ online is not unique to Zimbabwe. Ory Okolloh has noted before that of […]
Iroko Partners pumps up the volume with $8 million in fresh funding
Jason Njoku’s one and a half year old outfit has raised the bar for Sub Saharan African startups. Iroko Partners is charging ahead with its vision to put Nigerian entertainment online. Pando Daily published a post yesterday, revealing that the Lagos based startup had bolstered its war chest by way of two $4 million rounds. The funding came from Silicon Valley and emerging market stalwarts, Tiger Global.
You can build a startup in Africa. Here’s how
In 2011 Sarah Lacy, who was working at Techcrunch at the time but is now running a new tech blog known as Pandodaily, did the unthinkable by travelling to Nigeria on a mission to unravel its startup scene.