Ikeji reveals cost of streamer launch
Linda Ikeji has revealed the details of how her recently launched streaming service, Linda Ikeji TV (LITV), got off the ground.
In an interview with Business Insider, Ikeji revealed it cost “about half a billion naira” (US$1.38m) to set up LITV.
Ikeji also disclosed that all the streamer’s reality TV shows are self-funded and shot simultaneously, which makes the cost of production high.
“We have so much equipment – that’s how we were able to do multiple shoots,” she said. “We have a lot of cameramen, presenters, sound technicians and editors who are in-house. We have a mini jib and a fully loaded music studio.”
LITV has been developing content since June last year, resulting in more than 35 shows, some of which are yet to be released.
The streamer’s content is aimed at a youthful audience that prefers lighthearted fare. “Using data from my blog, I see what people want to read and I see that the serious stuff is not as appealing to the youth,” Ikeji said. “They love drama, controversy and gossip. So when you know who your target audience is, you create content for them.”
However, the platform also carries racier content that is not youth-friendly. “Probably 70% of our content was targeted at young people and the other 30% for a more mature audience,” Ikeji explained. “I haven’t done anything for kids. I am thinking about it. I don’t know if I should, because a lot of the stuff coming is too x-rated to be on the same platform.”
LITV was initially planned as a cable network, but Ikeji opted to develop it as a streamer to allow international growth in the future. “I have 193 countries on my website and Nigeria is just one of them. So I thought, ‘All this creativity, all this content, all this work will just be distributed to Nigerians? All these fans you have gathered over the years who live in Canada and America, how will they consume your content?’
“I also thought about the fact that the richest men in the world are tech businessmen. From Jeff Bezos to Bill Gates, it’s tech. And you know why they are billionaires? Because their business is global. They have a business that caters to the world, not just to China, not just to America. That means if you are in China, if you are in Australia, you can go to Amazon. If Amazon was strictly in America, it wouldn’t be the biggest thing in the world. If Netflix only had American subscribers, it wouldn’t be the biggest in the world. So they have 53% from other parts of the world and 47% from America.”
Ikeji rose to prominence as one of Nigeria’s top bloggers. LITV was launched on June 8 and has already garnered more than 10,000 subscribers.
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