There are many difficult decisions that the Coronavirus pandemic has forced businesses everywhere to face head-on. One of them is the debate on the viability of streaming services over cable television.
Across the world, cable giants are porting their programming from their terrestrial cable partners on their self-owned streaming services. It is more economically viable for the media companies as they can create their own content on their own schedules, audiences pay subscriptions directly and intellectual property remains with the parent company.
It was only a matter of time before Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife TV had to face this same decision and we are pleasantly surprised that she is taking the plunge and fully embracing streaming.
EbonyLife has been reducing its dependency on terrestrial cable for quite some time now. It launched EbonyLife ON, its exclusive streaming service in late 2018, exclusively premiering their original legal drama Castle & Castle on the platform. With a slew of other original shows and their old favourites like Dow.ry, exclusively showing only on the streaming service, EbonyLife ON was able to entice an early batch of subscribers.
But with EbonyLife ending its broadcast partnership with DSTV, it is taking a calculated gamble on the future of streaming and the desire of young Nigerians to binge their favourite shows when and how they want it. With its roster of classic films, its original shows and its many insightful documentaries, EbonyLife just might pull this off.
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