Nigerians up earnings from YouTube, TikTok as content creation thrive

With the rise in content creation in Africa's most populous country, Nigerians are making more money on platforms like Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, X, and others.

In 2024, Spotify paid approximately N58 billion in royalties to Nigerian artists. This is five times more than in 2022 and more than double what Spotify paid in 2023, according to the company's 2024 Loud & Clear report, which was made public this week.

In Lagos on Thursday, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, managing director of Spotify Africa, stated that the rewards are a reflection of Spotify's dedication to assisting artists and the growing demand for Nigerian music around the world.

"Discovery is a crucial component of streaming, and Spotify excels at promoting artists," she stated.

It means that you can find or hear a Nigerian musician for the first time whether you're in Tokyo, Oslo, or somewhere else. Our noises are becoming more and more commonplace in people's lives all across the world.

Popular preacher Jerry Eze is Nigeria's top YouTube earner thanks to his prayer videos, according to analytics firm Playboard's "Super Chat Revenue" data. He made N7 billion between 2014 and 2024, and he makes N7 million per day. Eze made the saying "What God Cannot Do Does Not Exist" well known, and he now has more than two million subscribers.

Mark Angel, who was born in 1991, has a sizable YouTube following because to his humorous series. Seosandwitch.com, one platform, projects that he will make between $300,000 and $500,000 by 2023.

YouTube junkie Christian Kedibe claimed to have earned over N23 million from his channel in four years, with one-third of that amount coming this year.

It all comes down to the content you have. It must strike a chord with the populace," he stated. It goes beyond YouTube and Spotify. By selling goods or high-quality content on X (previously Twitter), Nigerians are also generating revenue.

A 27-year-old social media influencer named Tolu Adedeji told BusinessDay how he quit his job in finance to start creating content for all platforms, including X.

"I began creating content as a side gig in 2022, but given the current state of affairs, my earnings in dollars now exceed my bank salary."

In 2024, Meta announced that, starting on July 1, 2024, Nigerian social media content producers on its platform will receive up to N150,000 for each 10,000 views on their work.

Videos are more engaging.

According to social media experts, young Nigerians would rather watch videos than read texts.

Video material is more engaging and keeps people interested, according to Samuel Ijaola, founder and CEO of GSMNS Global, a pro-Africa social media management company. He also notes that videos are perfect for narrative.

"Social media will still be dominated by video. These days, almost all platforms—TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter [now X], and more—are centered around video content. Even websites that didn't initially prioritize videos are starting to do so. Video monetization is only going to grow. As previously reported by BusinessDay, he stated, "It's already happening on most major platforms, and the trend will continue."

You'll notice individuals staring at their phones, the majority of whom are watching videos, whether you're on the bus or strolling down the street. Ijaola, whose staff oversees up to 1000 content creators around Africa, continued, "You will notice them smiling or reacting to the video because their attention will be so focused on it."