Nigerian film-makers pivot to YouTube as streaming firms pull back

In a market where big names have struggled to turn profits, a flood of new titles are connecting with audiences online

For an entire weekend this March, romcom fever gripped Nigerian social media. Thousands of Nigerians, even in the diaspora, debated fervently about Love in Every Word, in which an affair takes off after a smooth-talking, free-spending businessman hires a dance troupe to get an advertising executive’s phone number.

Critics poked holes in the plot but the movie’s melodrama appealed to many. Clips and memes were shared online as viewers spun fantasies about their own odogwu, an Igbo word used to refer to an influential or well-to-do man.