YouTube serves as relief to Nollywood from movie marketers

Kanayo O Kanayo

Veteran Nollywood actor Kanayo O. Kanayo has said YouTube served as relief to the Nigerian film industry from what he described as a period of oppression and intimidation by powerful movie marketers.

While speaking on a recent episode of The Honest Bunch podcast, Kanayo recalled a troubling era in Nollywood when marketers, who had become extremely influential, allegedly used their power to control actors and silence dissent.

According to him, there was a time when marketers, operating as a united front in the industry, suspended between 10 and 12 actors in a single year, without fair hearing.

“They just came together as a union and suspended actors unilaterally,” Kanayo said, adding that the punishments were often justified with vague allegations such as “unholy conduct.”

He narrated that the marketers, many of whom also doubled as executive producers, were determined to maintain absolute control and prevent actors from becoming marketers or promoting themselves independently.

“They placed a bar on anything that would allow actors to rise or market their own fame,” he said.

The actor further explained that the marketers imposed a ₦500,000 fine on any actor who wanted to become a marketer, a move he described as deliberately oppressive.

“At that time, the budget for an entire movie was about ₦800,000. So where would an actor see ₦500,000 just to promote a film?” he asked.

The veteran actor noted that the situation left many performers financially trapped and creatively stifled, until the rise of YouTube and digital distribution platforms changed the power dynamics in the industry.