Amazon Prime Video has announced the launch of the localized version of its streaming service in Nigeria with the unveiling of a Crime Drama ‘Gangs Of Lagos’ and ‘LOL: Last One Laughing Naija’ as first Nigerian Amazon originals.
This move will bring some serious competition to Netflix’s dominance of the video content streaming service market in Nigeria. However, versions of the service available in the region have never featured the local-language interfaces, subtitling and original content offerings typical in more developed markets.
That now changes in Nigeria and the whole of Africa as Amazon Prime plans to launch in other markets like South Africa. In a tweet by its official account, Prime Video Naija, the company said that customers in Nigeria can stream more than 20,000 original TV shows and movies within its ecosystem, such as “The Boys,” “All or Nothing,” “Reacher” and “All the Old Knives.” According to its website, the service will cost ₦2,300/month (~$4) after a seven-day trial. Thus, for the first time, users in Nigeria will be able to subscribe to Prime Video using their local currency, and unlike how most have accessed the platform for region-specific content in the past, they would not require a VPN to stream content on the service.
To gain more market share amid a streaming war for African content and eyeballs, Prime Video has been collaborating with filmmakers and content creators in Nigeria regarding the production of original and licensed content. The past couple of months has seen the service make strategic moves, such as closing theatrical outlet agreements with Anthill Studios, Inkblot Productions and Evoke Studios, hiring Insight Publicis as its creative agency and recruiting senior executives like Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, head of Nigerian Local Originals, to develop original video content in Nigeria, Africa’s largest film industry.
Amazon Prime Video’s first Nigerian show is “Gangs of Lagos,” a local original crime action movie that follows three friends’ lives as they navigate the streets of Isale Eko in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial city, scheduled to be ready for launch later this year.
