What Does The Nollywood Audience Really Want?
Nollywood and its dynamic relationship with its audience
“What did I just watch?” This is the standard reaction that could go left or right depending on what the audience thought of the movie.
The aftermath of this reaction is either criticism or less money, praise, or more money. I have seen both happen.
Week in, week out, before the pandemic, I visited cinemas and interacted with film lovers anywhere and everywhere. From the streamers to the people who purchased DVDs under the bridge and I have kept interesting journals about these people.
I have been told tales by several members of the audience on their best and worst films, filmmakers, actions, filming locations, and cultural trope. They have struggled with identifying the side to pitch their tents as fans.
On the flip side, Nollywood filmmakers constantly struggle with identifying audience needs. Some of them, genuinely frustrated by the low box office returns, poor streaming numbers, and all-round stagnant revenue from the market, ask ‘what does the Nigerian audience really want?’
They go through films trying to answer the question, incurring several losses along the way. Some hit gold, curate a formula and stick to it. Others simply export.
In all, it is as though the audience is an enigma. Meanwhile, they sit in their homes, their hands on their jaws and eyes rolling in disdain as if to say, “do you really want to know us or not?”
Whether rich or poor, the average Nollywood audience does not like to be referred to as a clustered entity. To them, they are simply audience members who want entertainment and use film as an escape from reality. This is why they are divided into several factions, depending on what they resonate with best.
In Nollywood, fan bases are not divided across movie genres. That is comics, sci-fi, rom-com, action or thriller. They are divided across access and the power of being relatable. The ability to make your film accessible has to match with the degree of relationship the audience can create with your material emotionally.
I recently conducted a survey of 300 film enthusiasts in Nigeria and over 62 percent picked foreign films over Nollywood.
Of the 38 percent who prefer home-based films, over 70 percent said they watched only when they ran out of foreign options in the cinema and the remaining 30 percent explained that saw home videos on YouTube, pirated DVDs, and illegal downloads.
In a more elaborate analysis, I had explained the mathematics behind Nollywood’s mediocre box office showings.
In answering ‘what does the audience really want?’ there is a clear thread. They want to suspend belief and do so without feeling foolish.
I have been told by filmmakers that the Nigerian audience has created a sport over finding loopholes in movies produced at home. However, I have been told by the audience that the Nigerian filmmaker creates for them as though they have no sense of reasoning.
In December, which is Nollywood’s best month yet, I watched as people exited the cinema hall with varied expressions on their faces. One said, “The movie was interesting,” to which the other replied, “But why do they assume we don’t think?”
I sure would be a billionaire by now if I got a dollar for every time a Nollywood audience said, “The film is great if you decide not to think.”
Interestingly, Nollywood has a number of salty filmmakers who are ready to write threads on ways they suffer to feed audiences with content and how people have no clue how hard it is to make films in Nigeria. The excuses go on and on but deep down, they want to crack the code.
Nobody cares how hard it took you to make the films, especially with access to information where audiences are now privy to some production techniques from foreign counterparts.
Out of the 300 people surveyed, most of the 62 percent who are ardent fans of foreign films explained that they understood how far-fetched some of the foreign storylines are but there is so much efforts put into selling that version of the truth such that for the duration of the film, it is the only thing you are interested in following.
Nigerians, like other audiences, want truth in your arts and they want you to sell it to them. What are you saying and how are you saying it? There is no preference for wealthy or poor looking characters but there is space for the sincerity of arts.
These are the same people who watch films that have no bearing to their locality or experiences and spend time analyzing dialogues. They have been built over time and exposed to material that exalts their intelligence or makes them feel smarter and cooler.
When a Nollywood film approaches them like they are retarded and lack the ability to understand nuanced dialogues or characters that are humanly complex, they cringe.
With the addition of some humour, they might laugh but they are hardly dedicated and the opportunity to build a fan base is lost. Instead of asking, ‘what does the audience want?’ it is safer to ask, ‘what does the audience not want?’
The latter is simpler to answer and gives more room to play with the former, introducing themes and techniques that will awe them and engage them. The Nollywood audience is not daft and its criticisms are not mostly from ‘bad belle’. They deserve better and they should get it.