As from July 2015, iROKOtv will discontinue its website service and streaming in Africa, so says Jason Njoku in a recent blog post.
He believes that the future for the company and its services is mobile and if that is the case, the strategy behind the current structure has to change. According to him, “Nigeria is one of the most mobilised countries in the world. 76% of our users are via mobile internet.”
“If Nigerian Internet is mobile, the Internet TV company which wins needs to go mobile. It needs to embrace and build for that apparently simple (yet incredibly complicated ) reality. From content, to pricing, to access, to product development, to distribution, to everything. It all needs to be re-thought, imagined and the operating system required for this reality is Android. Pure and simple.”
In the discontinuation of the website service, iROKOtv will retire the .com in Africa but retain the subscribers outside Africa as this is where 85% of its revenues and subscribers reside. However existing African subscribers will have continued access to the website. New intending users will not experience the desktop reality.
iROKOtv will also discontinue streaming in Africa and focus on discovery and download to watch offline.
He concludes that though iROKOtv may not be ready for this change as its structure is primarily desktop focused, it is a change that is needed for the survival of the company.
