Netflix vs IrokoTv: Who wins?

Many Nigerians in 2016 now pay to watch TV channels or to get access to more TV channels which the free local TV signals does not offer them. We didn't use to pay for TV in the 80s when we just had NTA and the rest. Nowadays, we pay to get Westernized because we now watch Pay TV thanks to platforms like DSTV and Startimes.

However, some of us have gone beyond just watching Satellite TV as we now watch TV and videos through the internet. The thing about watching TV using the internet is that you need to subscribe to a data plan that would allow you to watch it and the cost of internet data in Nigeria is still too high as many now pay about N1000 to get 1GB worth of data that they can use t oaccess the internet.

People can stream videos and TV shows on the interent as long as they have data allowancee and have connected to their Internet Service Provider and they may also get content for free or pay for it such as Iroko TV and Neflix currently offers.

IrokoTV is an internet platform that is home to many Nigerian home videos and people pay to download and watch Nigerian movies on their platform while also paying for internet service. Netflix is doing about the same thing but they are offering Nigerians access to watch foreign TV shows and movies.

One way through which Netflix is better than Iroko TV is that they have more content in terms of videos and TV shows and their content is mostly foreign while the advantage that IrokoTV has over Netflix is that they allow Nigerians to download videos to their hard drive for a imited period and that makes it cheaper to watch videos on Iroko TV than on Netflix since the latter requires an internet connection and uses data anytime you want to watch videos.

Netflix doesn't yet allows Nigerias to watch videos offline as you always need to have data to do so and that's how IrokoTV first started until they became a bit more flexible.

In terms of local content, IrokoTV has more local TV and videos than Netflix as the latter is more of a foreign platform that shows mostly US content but I heard they signed a deal earlier with IrokoTV to also show Nollyood movies on their platform and if that becomes reality, they may no longer be any need to subscribe to IrokoTV when Netflix has about the same content the have and a bit more.

For now, I think the edge which IROKOtv has over Netflix is their ability to offer downloads so that people can save data by being able to watch videos offline. The fact that IrokoTV is about the first and has become popular already among Nigerians is also an advantage for them but Netflix is already advertising locally and may very well give Nigerians a good reason to stay home and watch TV rather than going to the cinemas.

In terms of subscription cost, IrokoTV is more affordable as I remember I subscribed with just N500 but Netflix charges at least $7.99. Also the fact that CBN has placed a restriction of using Naira cards for paying in US dollars may delay the full launch of Netflix as many Nigerians will be unable to make payment unless they get a dollar card or CBN lifts the restriction. With that, IrokoTV has an edge over Netflix for now since they collect payment in local currency although they also accept payments in foreign currencies.