Next Africa · Oct 24, 2026 · 19m · 13m saved
With Mo Abudu, founder and CEO, EbonyLife Group
EbonyLife Place in Lagos has been the top-grossing cinema destination in West Africa for seven straight years.
Most Nigerian producers who can't land a Netflix or Amazon Prime deal now release straight to YouTube and hope for an audience; Mo Abudu, founder and CEO of EbonyLife Group, used her Lagos earnings to self-fund a second EbonyLife Place in London instead of waiting for outside money.
"London is home to me... I'm a Londoner. I was born in London, by the way, just in case you didn't know."
Mo built the original EbonyLife Place into Lagos's top-earning cinema first, then used that track record, not a studio partner or a government grant, to justify opening a second one abroad.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 19 minutes of audio, 6 minutes of reading.
Here are the 7 takeaways that matter.
Key Takeaways
Nigerian shows pushed onto YouTube by streamers' funding pullback are drawing 10 million to 20 million views within two days of release
Mo picked London for EbonyLife Place partly because she was born there, and the city sits a six-hour flight from Lagos
EbonyLife Place London fills a gap left since a Black cinema near Notting Hill Gate closed roughly 20 years ago
Mo has fielded franchise interest in opening EbonyLife Place in Toronto, New York and Kenya
The Lagos venue has been West Africa's top-grossing cinema for seven years, funding London's launch without outside investors
EbonyLife's own streaming service, launched about a year ago, has reached 43,000 subscribers
A $2 local show has repeatedly beaten $20-budget international shows to the top of Nigeria's Netflix chart
1. YouTube hits 20M in days
Bloomberg's Lagos Bureau Chief Anthony Osae-Brown opened the conversation by explaining that Netflix and Amazon Prime no longer fund Nigerian films upfront; producers now finance their own movies and only get bought if the finished product is good enough. That shift leaves unfunded producers releasing straight onto YouTube, where Mo said some shows explode almost instantly.
Nigerian YouTube releases are drawing tens of millions of views within days.
"If a show launches on a Monday, by Wednesday, it's had 10 million views or 20 million views."
That speed shows local audiences will watch Nigerian content the moment it's free and easy to find, without a streamer's marketing budget behind it. It also explains why producers who can't land a Netflix or Prime deal aren't waiting around for one.
