Nigeria’s Content Creation Industry: Mark Angel, others make more than $100,000 per year

Nigeria’s content creation industry is booming, and the world doesn’t know it yet.

The African Creators Summit represented a turning point for the expanding digital ecosystem in Lagos. The convener of the event was Apollo Endeavor Limited, a company headed by Oladapo Adewunmi that currently represents 300+ of Nigeria’s top content Creators.

You may have never heard of them, but content creators reign over legions of social media followers. Mark Angel has 39M followers across platforms; Lasisi Elenu and Josh2Funny each have 9.2M, and Kiekie has 7.7M, for example. The #AfricanCreatorsSummit—one full day of panels attended by 1,000 creators and a VIP dinner for 150 guests—was free and fully funded by Apollo Endeavor.

Hundreds of creators in Nigeria get paid more than $100,000 per year. A few of them, like Mark Angel, make millions from the content they create online. This means that the Nigerian Creator Economy is already a multi-million dollar industry, Marie Lora-Mungai reports.

Read more: How To Become A Successful Content Creator

How To Make Money From Content Creation

This money mostly comes from advertisements placed on creators’ video content on their YouTube channels and Facebook. Creators also make money from direct brand deals in terms of brand influence and advertising. Facebook currently limits monetization to a select number of “partner” creators. Monetization is not yet enabled on social media applications like Instagram and WhatsApp, but it’s coming. In fact, TikTok is about to launch its Creator program.

One of the most common ways content creators make money on Instagram is through sponsored posts and collaborations with brands. Brands pay influencers to feature their products or services in posts, stories, or videos. The compensation varies depending on the influencer’s reach, engagement rate, and the specific brand’s budget.

As monetization options expand in the next few months and years, Nigerian creators’ revenue is going to explode. This revenue is made in USD (and not in Naira)—the holy grail.

Also read: Monetizing Content Creation in Nigeria

Creating A Niche In The Content Industry

Creators are multi-talented. They act, they sing, they write, and they teach, all the while being enormously charismatic and entertaining. Their skills are easily transferable to many other creative sub-sectors, such as film, music, and fashion, but also to the education sector. They create jobs. Content creators employ videographers, editors, photographers, stylists, makeup artists, lawyers, accountants, and managers.

The first step in choosing a niche is to identify your passions and interests such as beauty, fashion, lifestyle, technology, education, and entertainment. Your niche should align with your expertise or your willingness to learn and become an authority in that field.

Remember, being a content creator often involves constant research and learning. Choosing a niche that motivates you to keep expanding your knowledge will do you a lot of good. The main goal of a content creator is to build a loyal audience and engage with them through their content, often to monetize their work through sponsorships, ads, or other revenue streams.

In a market where disposable income is very low and global streamers are struggling to gain subscribers, content creators have found the gold mine: a business model that works.

They create highly entertaining content that is available to very large audiences for free, with ad inventory and delivery managed automatically by the best advertising companies in the world (Google and Meta).

At the event, one creator asked this question: “What do we need to do for people to take us seriously?” The answer is: Show them the numbers.

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