Niyi Akinmolayan laments over lack of movie marketing firms

Niyi Akinmolayan, the Anthill Studios founder and filmmaker lamented over the lack of movie marketing firms in Nollywood.

He noted that though Nollywood represented 40% of the Nigerian box office, there were no marketing firms dedicated to films.

In a Twitter thread, he called for marketing firms to incorporate Nollywood films into their business.

He tweeted, “It’s 2022. Nollywood is 40% of the Nigerian box office. Yet we don’t have any marketing outfit dedicated to films.

“Most films in cinema have a marketing spend of no less than N15m. Some get as high as N30-N40m. Half of that money is wasted as producers don’t really know what works.

“You don’t have to build from scratch. If you are an already existing marketing firm, you can expand your business to accommodate Nollywood films.

“You have to study the industry well as films aren’t commodities like food. Lots of emotionally charged marketing. Audiences are crazy.

“The film distributors aren’t well equipped for this. But this is also an opportunity for a startup. How can you best position a film to be exciting for the audience?

“It’s true a good film will get help via word of mouth but a good film might lose its opening weekend opportunity cos no one knew it existed. Think about these things.

“I’m willing to work with a marketing company who takes on this challenge for my future films.

“I really just want to make films…and even though I’m really good at getting everyone excited about seeing my film, it takes too much time and energy I could be using for other stuff.”