Entertainment Business - December 30, 2021

Amazon Prime Video will Join the Streaming Battle in Africa in 2022

Amazon Prime Video partners with Inkblot studio to enter Africa’s streaming market. A deal that will see the streaming giant tell African stories.

December 30, 2021

3 min read

Amazon Prime Video is set to expand into the streaming market in Africa through its partnership with Inkblot, a leading production company. With the increasing internet connectivity in Africa, streaming companies are leveraging this opportunity to expand their offers to win more subscribers by forming partnerships with local studios and generating local content for international audiences.

Ayanna Lonian, Amazon Prime Video Director of Content Acquisition and Head of Worldwide Major Studio Licensing Strategy, says, “We know Prime Video customers around the world love movies and this new deal with Inkblot Studios will deliver some of the best Nigerian and African films available for our customers.

Nigerian stories are truly some of the most exciting and thrilling in the world. The Inkblot deal will allow us to deliver great Nigerian movies, post their theatrical release in Nigeria to our global audience, and will continue to build upon Prime Video’s catalogue and goal to delight Prime members”, she said.

Owing to this new development, Amazon Prime Video joins streaming companies such as Netflix in the United States and Showmax in South Africa, battling for the attention of over one billion people in Africa.

The partnership will give Amazon Prime Video exclusive worldwide rights to air Inkblot studio’s productions after their theatrical runs. Films such as The Set-Up 2, Moms at War 2, and New Money 3, Charge and Bail, Superstar, and The Blood Covenant fall in the partnership.

Appie Matere, a Kenyan TV producer with a series on Showmax, says the competitiveness in the African streaming industry provides an opportunity for African content providers to tell African stories from an African perspective to the world.

According to her, “Amazon, Disney – everybody is talking about how all these big players are coming to Africa. We’re hoping we’ll be able to put our footprints on most of these platforms”.

In light of the increasing internet connection in Africa, Digital TV Research, a London-based business intelligence company says, the number of video-on-demand in Africa subscriptions will increase to 15.06 million by 2026.