Here’s your bit of trivia for the day: Iroko generated more than N250 million in revenue from content created by their content partners. Reverse the math I just did in my head and you’ll arrive at the fact that they paid out more than N200 million to content creators. Jason said. In the same vein, they’ve just launched IrokoX, an online network to help indie content creators hack creation, distribution and monetisation.
So, it’s basically an MCN (Multi-Channel Network) like CDBaby, or Tunecore that extends their artist support to production (instead of just distribution). IrokoX will give artists production assistance, studio resources, and the opportunity to show their work on Youtube, iTunes, and other global platforms. All the “production” will be done in ROK Studios (Lagos), and Iroko’s offices in New York and London. The (selected) creators will be able to use the infrastructure for free, and Iroko will apply the big D (Distribution), generate ad revenue, sell the content on platforms like iTunes and Spotify and give 80% of it to the creators.
Oluchi Enuha, the new platform’s General Manager said, “It will operate on an 80/20 split revenue share model for the majority of users—the artists get 80 percent. We are going after something akin to a Maker Studios, whereby Africa’s professional and semi-professional creators can produce quality digital content, market it, share it with larger audiences, and get paid.”
80% content owner. 20% iroko | https://t.co/PMyXAmu9h2 | we monetise short form audio and video content.
— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) September 9, 2016
Oluchi continued, “Creation. Distribution. Monetization; this is what IrokoX is setting out to provide for our continent’s creative pioneers, in order to capture and lead the fast-paced social media and online video market for the continent. Africa is brimming with creative talent, much of which is stifled by poor access to production facilities, or poor understanding of how to monetize content. With IrokoX’s considerable expertise in these areas, we are ideally positioned to support and develop thousands of amazing African and Africa-inspired content creators.”
“We are now on the search for creative and influential personalities across all social media channels, who want to share their passions and talents online and scale their video views to an audience in its millions”
Africa’s youth population is expected to grow to 321m by 2030, and these people will consume most of their content scrolling through feeds on mobile. Big brands no longer have one centralised player through whom they can reach audiences (since the internet has done a lot of disintermediation) like they used to do when TV was a thing.
Posit: Step 1. Build an army of great content creators by offering them an opportunity to make more money than they are currently making posting videos on Instagram. Step 2. Reach out to big brands and have them pay for access to your army. Step 3. Take a 20% cut for your trouble.
🙂
