International movies platform Problem: Watching international | Startups & Ventures

International movies platform
Problem: Watching international films is especially difficult. This is problematic because there are thousands of movies I can’t watch online. Did you know that Bollywood (the film industry in India) and Nollywood (the film industry in Nigeria) are both large than Hollywood by film volume?

Solution: An international movie platform for people to watch international films. Given the success of Parasite (an international film made in Korean by a Korean team) last year in the global film circuit, this type of business would play off more global trends. Since the combined revenues and volume of non-US films are larger than Hollywood, this business would tap into an untapped market that is being neglected by larger content-producers and distributors today like Netflix.

In 2015, Fortune Magazine’s Jake Bright wrote about Nollywood. Explaining that:

By 2009, Nollywood had surpassed Hollywood as the world’s second largest movie industry by volume, right behind India’s Bollywood. And in 2014, the Nigerian government released data for the first time showing Nollywood is a $3.3 billion sector, with 1844 movies produced in 2013 alone. Earlier this year, Nollywood Producer Kunle Afolyan reached an exclusive Netflix distribution arrangement for his latest film, October 1. This adds to the 10 Nollywood related titles already on Netflix and the U.S. media company’s recent $12 million movie rights purchase of Nigerian novel Beasts of No Nation, to star Idris Elba.

And many observers believe that the global reach of African films could take off, led by video on demand (VOD) platforms and productions of Nigeria — the continent’s largest economy and most populous nation.

One large player in the Nigerian streaming market is IROKOTV. They (and other African digital content startups) have received financial backing of $25 million from firms such as New York’s Tiger Global and Sweden’s Roko. Recently, however, IROKOTV laid off 150 members of their staff and seem to be disinvesting from Africa; thus, leaving more space for opportunity.