Content is King. How I ended up Working for Mrs. Njoku - Part 2
IROKO, IROKO.
IROKO, IROKO (in a typical hailing loud Nigerian accent).
Mrs. Njoku glanced nervously at me. This was the week ‘How I ended up working for Mrs Njoku’ came out. 1,000% sure this chap hadn’t read the article. Yet here he was. Confirming what I knew.
Hailing my wife, Mrs. Njoku. Madam IROKO, IROKO.
She answered him nervously, Noooooo, that’s my husband, he is the IROKO. He looked at me and laughed.
‘I know him. We know him. Leave that thing, we know he is in the background, supporting, you are at the front doing great job. IROKO, IROKO. Madam IROKO’
That was 2018. Back to 2014.
As we emerged from the content wars of 2013, one thing became obvious. License costs going from $2.5–5k to $20-25k per movie in 6 months, for the same content rights, was unsustainable at best. Lethal to our long term ambitions at worst. See the thing with content is that over the last 100 years, the price has only ever gone in one direction. Up, up and up! Example; in 2008 Netflix paid Starz $30m/year for 1,000 movies. A decade later they will spend $5B/year content for a similar amount of content.
So in 2013/14, Mrs. Njoku produced two movies. Hazeezat (rated 86%), Raging Passion (91%). That was a very strong start. And even though it wasn’t widely supported at IROKO board level, she slowly started to build out what would become a massive competitive moat around IROKOtv. Content. This was way before it was in vogue. This was way before we could even really afford it. It was primarily for IROKOtv, but she always saw it being beyond just the internet. She felt it needed to reach into the homes of the masses. It was a different kind of Nollywood.
See, 100% of the producers in Nollywood are independent of a platform. Mrs. Njoku no doubt would have been also. I guess I am fortunate to have married her into mine. A new protective layer around IROKOtv.
But she was going to do things her own way.
Whilst there was an established star system in Nollywood, Mrs. Njoku never cared about that, she honestly didn’t believe she could afford to. At the beginning, I attempted to pressure her into using established stars, you know to help me drive subscribers, for the most part, unless the prices were within budget. She straight refused. As she struggled her way through Nollywood, she saw boatloads of talent that was never given the opportunity by the ‘Men from Alaba’. So she decided to try a different route. She would focus on talent first, second and third. Can you write? Can you act? Can you produce? Can you direct? She would give a new breath of fresh air to Nollywood. She would introduce true meritocracy in Nollywood. Everyone gets a chance.
This became the DNA which differentiated ROK. It became a sanctuary to talent whom many others wouldn’t give a chance.
When established stars attempted to over price her? She didn’t even flinch. She just respectfully de-casted them. She wouldn’t even bother to negotiate. I have never in my entire life seen a person who can be as cold / brutal as Mrs. Njoku when needed, yet somehow in the most respectful and diplomatic way. I’m like a cupcake compared to her. In fact, I am pretty soft when it comes to it.
I remember when she spent time trying to convince established stars to feature in TV series, so many refused claiming it would kill their movie careers. There is a reason one of the biggest series of recent times, Husbands of Lagos, didn’t really have stars. But yet it still performed. Talent is what talent does. Talent wins.
Nobody saw this coming. Especially not me. I’m a commercial guy. I didn’t realise the far reaching impact this would have across Nollywood. She literally (and very quietly) turned everything on its head. Everything. 16 months ago, the launch of ROK on DStv ushered in a new era for Nollywood (in my humble opinion). Even though AfricaMagic had a 10-year head start and everyone assumed (myself included) the game was tied up. ROK became arguably one of the most successful channel launches in recent DStv history. It crushed ratings from Month 1. Crushed them. Not just in Nigeria. In the UK. I was genuinely shocked and surprised at how well it performed. ROK won by focusing on new faces, new talents. This was the time I started to lose my identity and become Mary Njoku’s husband.
Today everything changes…
Today is a big fucking deal in the Njoku household. Multichoice are giving her the opportunity to take this ROK thing to a different level. 5th April, Mrs. Njoku will be launching two more channels across Africa on DStv, but more importantly expanding to a GOtv audience. Now the audience for ROK will be x10. Now I truly believe the earth will shake.
ROK — Contemporary New Nollywood DStv 168
ROK2 — Epic Movies and Series — DStv 169 / GOtv 17
ROK3 — Ghanaian Movies and Series — DStv 164 / GOtv 18
The meritocracy she introduced will be amplified x10, as a new breed of actors are created and more and more dreams can come true. When we first started dating, this was like February 2011, I told her I was going to be the most important person in Nollywood (leave me jor, I was young(ish), broke and boasting with sweet big words), she didn’t care. I was wrong. Mrs. Njoku is arguably the most influential person in Nollywood today. I am biased of course. But I can’t think of anyone who shapes the creation (writers / producers / directors etc.) of so much content (1,000+ hours per year) and also whose content has the fans / distribution reach globally, whether it’s via IROKOtv or DStv or GOtv or SKY. No one to mind comes even close to that. She is increasingly becoming the prism through which the masses who watch Nollywood around the world, are experiencing it. It’s happened.
So where does that leave me?
See, I have finally come to the simple conclusion. In the end, no one really cares about IROKOtv. Yes, it’s a brand they have come to know and love. Yes we are making massive strides on lowering the barrier to adoption and have some neat tech. But what they are really interested and fall in love with is the content. ROK on DStv demonstrated this fact, without a shadow of doubt. That they are in love with what is cooking in the Njokus’ kitchen.
And I can’t cook.
So I will just have to play my position as Mrs Njoku’s husband.