Nigerians go on social media to cut streaming service cost

? Social media lead as news source platform

? Facebook, X, TikTok earned telcos over N1tr in Q1

? Citizens leverage social media monetisation opportunities to stay afloat

Video streaming service providers, who are investing billions of naira in the Nigerian market, may be betting on a dying industry as social media platforms continue to eat deeper into the market.

Digital media are increasingly eclipsing traditional streaming services like MultiChoice, StarTimes, Netflix, and even television boxes as the primary source of entertainment and news content.

The changing dynamics are driven by a confluence of factors ? ranging from economic to infrastructural and consumption changes, particularly among the youth.

The changes are far-reaching with huge consequences for how and what people consume. For instance, people no longer gather around one screen to consume media content. Everyone is mobile, swiping, scrolling and streaming with YouTube and TikTok becoming the new primetime.

Add a country where inflation is high and hunger is real, and PayTV is not just going redundant, it is also becoming unaffordable.

In an article titled, ?Unlocking Nigeria?s TV Market Potential with Satellite-Powered Distribution,? published by satelliteworldtoday.com in December 2024, it was estimated that there were about 21 million Nigerian homes with TVs. It also projected that the figure would rise to 26 million by 2027, subject to economic stability.

The report noted that in 2002, only 30 per cent of Nigerian homes had television sets.

While there have been rapid changes in media consumption, an earlier report by Intelsat (published in October 2024) said Nigeria has 42.7 million households. The same Intelsat report indicated there were 21.4 million TV households in Nigeria. This suggested a TV penetration rate of 50 per cent.

According to it, the 21.4 million TV households are distributed among different types of TV services, including direct-to-home (9,550,163); digital terrestrial TV (11,670,042); Internet protocol TV (21,413) and multipoint microwave (171,303).

Regionally, the report noted that TV penetration varied significantly across Nigeria. It stated that southern states have high TV penetration, averaging 75 per cent, while northern states are less penetrated, with an average of 23 per cent.

In 2015, when the controversy of merging the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was on the front burner, the former Director-General of NBC, Emeka Mba, in one of his media interviews, revealed that only 37 million households had access to television.

Based on the changing pattern, TV viewership could further drop.

For instance, MultiChoice, a long-standing dominant force in the Nigerian pay-TV market, has reported significant subscriber losses. The company?s financial results for the year ending March 2025 revealed a 44 per cent decline in subscription revenue in Nigeria, with a staggering 1.4 million subscribers exiting its services over the past two years.

The exodus, representing 77 per cent of MultiChoice?s total subscription losses across its ?rest of Africa? operations, is largely attributed to surging inflation, multiple price hikes on DStv and GOtv and the undeniable rise of digital alternatives.

Today, MultiChoice grapples with a shrinking linear subscriber base, reporting a seven per cent fall in its ?rest of Africa? subscriber base to 7.5 million while social media platforms are flourishing as entertainment hubs. Nigerians are increasingly gravitating towards platforms like Facebook, X, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp and Instagram for daily content.

According to DataReportal?s ?Digital 2025: Nigeria?, there were 38.7 million active user identities on Facebook, the most popular social media, in the country as of last year. The figure represented 18 per cent of the total population.

On X (formerly Twitter), the figure is estimated at between five and seven million. At the same time, another 12.4 million are registered on Instagram while TikTok users were estimated at 37.4 million earlier in the year.

As far back as two years ago, Snapchat users had crossed 12 million. This pushes the total Nigerian user identities on the most popular social media platforms to nearly 110 million. WhatsApp, a leading messaging app, is also used by dozens of millions of Nigerians to share and consume video content, making it a major competitor to traditional streaming service providers.

It is important, however, to note that ?user identities? may not always represent unique users, as one person may have multiple social media pages. However, the number gives a strong indication of social media penetration in the country.

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) stated that in November 2024 over 40 million Nigerians spent an average of six hours daily on social media. This indicated a growing and highly engaging social media audience in Nigeria.

The shift towards social media platforms is fast buoying telecom operators? revenue, especially the quartet of MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile.

For instance, the MNOs recorded huge earnings in Q1, largely fueled by subscribers? strong appetite for data consumption.

Checks by The Guardian showed that data has become the primary revenue driver for Nigerian telcos, surpassing voice revenue for the player ? MTN Nigeria. Data revenue has shown substantial year-on-year growth.

MTN?s total revenue from data services rose by 51.5 per cent year-on-year to N529.4 billion, indicating a strong upward trend. Its 2024 full-year report showed data revenue contributed N1.59 trillion, a 49.08 per cent increase from N1.07 trillion in 2023.

In constant currency terms, Airtel?s data revenue surged by 44.3 per cent in the nine months ending December 31, 2024.

The Nigerian telecom industry has seen significant overall revenue growth. According to PwC?s Global Telecom Outlook 2024-2028 report, Nigeria?s mobile service revenue reached $7.6 billion in 2024. This figure includes both voice and data, but data is a major component.

The NCC reported that telecommunications operators in Nigeria generated N5.3 trillion in total revenue from their services (including voice and data) in 2023. This was a 37.5 per cent increase from N3.86 trillion in 2022.

While this is for the whole industry and includes voice, it highlights the sector?s overall financial health and data-driven growth trajectory.

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MTN?s 2024 data revenue of N1.59 trillion suggests that data consumption is becoming the mainstay of telecommunication services.

Considering other major players like Airtel (whose data revenue, while impacted by currency, is also substantial) and Globacom, it is probable that the Nigerian telcos have collectively earned several trillion naira from data services in the last year.

The MNOs are projected to see more revenues, especially from data offerings, in 2025 after securing a 50 per cent tariff hike from the Federal Government in February 2025.

Yet, there appeared to be a slight drop in Internet usage between February and March. Data from NCC showed that subscribers consumed 893,054.8 TB of data in February, which rose to 995,876.10 TB in March. The number of Internet users dropped from 142.16 million to 142 million, with about 107,872 customers lost.

As it is, Nigeria is a country where mobile is the primary mode of Internet access, and social media offer a more data-efficient and often free alternative to subscription-based streaming.

Platforms like YouTube allow users to adjust video resolution, disable autoplay and utilise data-saving browsers, features largely unavailable on premium streaming services which often default to HD or 4K, silently draining data.

Findings by The Guardian showed that social media has become a powerful incubator for local content creators, offering a constant stream of relatable and culturally relevant videos, skits, and music. This localised content often resonates more deeply with Nigerian audiences than the internationally curated libraries of many streaming platforms.

The report claimed that social media news consumption continues to splinter. There are now six platforms with weekly news reaches of 10 per cent or more ? Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, X and TikTok. A decade ago, there were just two with double-digit reach ? Facebook and YouTube.

In terms of creator economy and direct engagement, social media have democratised content creation, empowering Nigerian filmmakers, musicians, comedians and influencers to reach audiences directly, bypassing traditional gatekeepers.

This fosters a stronger connection between creators and their fans, leading to higher engagement and loyalty, particularly among Gen Z, who are more emotionally invested in online creators than traditional celebrities.

Further, unlike traditional streaming platforms that often acquire content with upfront payments but limited long-term royalties, platforms like YouTube offer Nigerian creators recurring income through monetisation features, incentivizing more local content production.

The trend is particularly pronounced among Gen Z and millennials, who are spending significantly more time on social media platforms watching user-generated content than on traditional TV or movie streaming.

Research indicated that Gen Z, for instance, watches approximately 50 minutes more of social content daily compared to the average viewer, while spending 44 minutes less on shows and movies.

While streaming service providers like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Showmax are investing in Nigerian originals and aggressive pricing strategies, the economic realities and new preferences of the Nigerian consumer are undeniably tilting the scales towards social media.

As MultiChoice acknowledges, its strategy must adapt to the ?rise in piracy, streaming services and social media,? highlighting the undeniable impact of digital alternatives on its core business.

The shift underscores a broader transformation in Nigeria?s entertainment consumption, where accessibility, cost-effectiveness, local relevance and direct engagement with creators are now paramount, solidifying social media?s position as the entertainment powerhouse.

This is not limited to Nigeria. The preference for news via social media has spread like wildfire across the globe.

For instance, a recent report by NiemanLab revealed that for years, social media and video apps were not quite able to overtake good old television as Americans? most-used source for news. It, however, noted that this has finally changed.

Citing Oxford?s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) in its 2025 Digital News Report, it noted that traditional news sources are losing influence in the United States.

Nieman Lab?s team said for the first time, social media has displaced television as the top way Americans get news. ?The proportion accessing news via social media and video networks in the United States (54 per cent) is sharply up,? the report?s authors write: ?Overtaking both TV news (50 per cent) and news websites/apps (48 per cent) for the first time.?

Although social media and personality-based news are also on the rise in other countries, the report noted that the changes are happening ?faster and with more impact? in the United States.

The report observed that in Nigeria, media organisations are also using AI-driven solutions to combat misinformation, with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development recently launching Dubawa.ai, an AI-powered fact-checking chatbot to verify information and counter false narratives. At the same time, Dataphyte introduced Nubia, a tool that enables newsrooms to analyse complex datasets and produce data-driven stories efficiently.

It noted that the Digital Switch-Over (DSO) project, spearheaded by NBC, is expected to be completed in 2025.

It disclosed that President Bola Tinubu recently approved a N10 billion ($6.3 million) grant to accelerate the project, which will enhance coverage and clarity of news channels, ensuring that more Nigerians, especially in underserved and rural areas, have greater access to credible news. (The Guardian)

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