Can the Average Nigerian Afford Not to Pirate?
Gossip • 1h ago
Last year, I wrote about the unaffordability of movies for average Nigerians and how high ticket prices, when weighed against the minimum wage, make cinema-going feel like a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Nigerians will think about house rent, food, black tax and clothing before thinking about visiting the cinema. The piece was impactful enough to nudge the CEO of a cinema company to distribute free tickets in the comments. While it explored why the average Nigerian cannot afford to watch films in cinemas, it failed to ask an important question: Where do average Nigerians watch movies when they cannot afford the cinema or streaming? Because they do.
The easiest answer would be YouTube, considering how the platform has become the hub for filmmakers nowadays. But even before we examine wh...