In achieving its goal of improving access to entertainment and combating piracy, Afrinolly, a Nigerian entertainment company, has launched Afrinolly MarketPlace a marketplace for the distribution of Nollywood and other African films, as well as other content.
The marketplace is very unique allowing users to pay-per-view via a secured mobile platform that distributes movies, short films, series and others to mobile subscribers.
Through the marketplace, Afrinolly believes it can help the entertainment industry to check piracy and make entertainment content to become more accessible.
“This is an exciting moment for Nollywood and the African film industry as we launch the Afrinolly MarketPlace; an African solution to the challenge of piracy. A challenge largely ignored by established video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Videos, YouTube Red and others. At Afrinolly, we believe African producers should be able to earn more from their contents and African entertainment enthusiasts should have access to these contents without the risk of piracy,” said Chike Maduegbuna, chief executive officer (CEO) of Afrinolly.Users can stream content both via Afrinolly’s mobile site and via the app, with the company saying efforts had been made to keep the video viewing experience consistent regardless of device or platform used. Content protection and convenient payments are two key elements of the Afrinolly MarketPlace.
“We implemented multi-platform DRM technology and video optimisation solutions using industry standards so contents are protected on the Afrinolly platform and we introduced carrier billing (Recharge Pay) so users can pay for contents using airtime via their mobile network,” said Tope Omotunde, chief technology officer (CTO) of Afrinolly.
For NGN100 (US$0.50), users in Nigeria will be able to watch a movie, while a short film is NGN50 (US$0.25). GSM subscribers on the MTN Nigeria network can pay for content via airtime, as will Airtel subscribers in a few weeks.
For users in other parts of the world, the cost is 99 cents for a movie via in-app payment systems.
Adds Tope Omotunde, “Afrinolly is powered by our Dynamic Transcoding Technology, which helps in identifying data speed of our users so as to be able to deliver smooth video viewing experience regardless of network or device type. Our App is backed by our Intelligent Prediction Technology that recognizes a user’s video content preference based on their region, past contents watched, search they have conducted and device used.”
