NAIRABOX is Driving The Digital Future Of Cinemas In Nigeria

The cinema-viewing culture worldwide has come a long way since it first originated in the 1800s.

Cinemas have evolved from the Silent era in 1891 to The Sound era in 1927, followed by The Golden era in 1939, The Blockbuster era in the 1960s and 1970s, The Independent era in the 1990s, then finally, The New age era of the 21st century, which has seen the rapid globalization of streaming services, the usage of 3D technology in cinemas, and the overall digitization of the cinema experience.

This new era in cinema culture is tagged as the era with the most rapid advancement attributed largely to digitization, and the fast-growing number of internet users which is currently put at 3.97 billion people globally. The era however felt the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as cinemas and movie theaters worldwide were on lockdown in 2020, resulting in the global box office predicting an estimated $5 billion loss as a result of the pandemic. According to reports and analysis from PWC, there is no prediction for cinemas revenue to recover to pre-pandemic levels globally until post-2024, but the movie viewing culture is advancing and adopting new methods that enable movie lovers to watch more movies, which is the subscription-based business model.

The impact of the pandemic has put a strain on the revenues of cinemas all over the world, subscription-based business models have been very effective as a source of revenue generation. By using a subscription model, the cinema gets more revenue as people are likely to watch more with the affordable price rate and in its entirety, it’s a step to change and win for cinemas, movie makers and other movie/entertainment businesses.

In Nigeria, the entertainment and cinema sector accounts for an average of 1.4% of the nation’s GDP annually, with the sector generating $5.5 billion in 2019 alone with progressions for it to reach $10.8 billion by 2023, despite there being less than 100 cinemas nationwide. For a population of 200million people with 52% of this population in urban areas, this is considered low. There is therefore a need for a newer approach to revolutionizing the cinema industry through digitization.

Active steps have been taken by several lifestyle companies in the country to find a newer approach to ticket distribution seeing as cinemas cannot effectively distribute movie tickets to everyone who wants to watch a movie at the cinema. Notable in spearheading this new ticketing distribution approach through digitization is Nairabox.

Nairabox, one of Nigeria’s leading lifestyle and entertainment apps has been a driver for change in the cinema going culture in Nigeria since inception in 2016.

In April 2021, the app relaunched with a newer app look from its old version and introduced what we will describe as an unprecedented change with their new Cinema Subscription Feature, the first of its kind in Nigeria. As a platform which allows users to enjoy a wealth of experience with easy access to these cinema subscription tickets, and regular movie tickets on their user friendly and functional app, Nairabox is blazing the trail and raising the bar.

At the forefront of their offering is their newest cinema subscription service which allows users the option to get access to 4 cinema tickets for N2,000 and 12 cinema tickets for N6,000 monthly to watch any movie at the cinema. This unprecedented breakthrough in the cinema-going culture in the country shows the emergence of a new revolution in the cinema culture in Nigeria, thanks to digitization.

In a recent interview, the CEO, Tokunbo Adetona highlighted one of the brand’s reasons for launching Nigeria’s first cinema subscription. In his words, “Considering that there is a large cinema-viewing audience in Nigeria, there isn’t a community fit for this audience in the country. This is what has spurred us to create this new Cinema Subscription service to provide value as well as ease to everyone from all over the country.”

With the relaunch of the lifestyle app, the addition of this new feature, and partnership with cinemas like VIVA Cinemas, Genesis Cinemas, and Kada Cinemas, Nigerians in states across the country like Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Enugu, Delta, etc., can now comfortably have access to tickets to any movie of their choice without having to worry about long queues or sold-out tickets anymore. Nairabox has helped to advance the cinema culture in Nigeria and solidified its position as the leading lifestyle app in the country.

The Nairabox app is currently available to download for free on the Google Playstore and coming soon this June to the IOS store.