November 6, 2025
EbonyLife Group has officially launched EbonyLife ON Plus, the multi-vertical digital service developed by Mo Abudu. When I first covered the streaming platform in August, I wrote that it was “taking shape” with what I referred to as a measured approach. Available now via the App Store and Google Play, EbonyLife ON Plus offers users a mix of films, series, masterclasses, shopping, podcasting, and AI-guided learning tools, bundled under five branded “experience pillars”: Watch It, Learn It, Shop It, Win It, and Live It.
EbonyLife ON Plus was targeting a September launch, entering a market where at least two other homegrown platforms — KAVA and Circuits — are already operational and competing for similar audiences. What we now have are three different Nigeria-based strategies experimenting with domestic-to-global streaming in real time, playing out across a landscape that has changed in the last few months.
The EbonyLife ON Plus content library launches with the Idris Elba-directed Lagos-set short film “Dust to Dreams” (starring Seal, and written by Abudu) plus its companion documentary “Dust to Dreams: Behind the Scenes.” Abudu’s own directorial work is front and center, including short films “Her Perfect Life” and “Iyawo Mi.”
The platform also carries “Baby Farm,” the EbonyLife TV limited series about human trafficking in Lagos that premiered on Netflix earlier this year, and Kayode Kasum’s “Ajosepo” as an exclusive.
There’s also “Black, Brilliant & Bold,” which profiles Black women in leadership, including Angélique Kidjo, Ayra Starr, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former President of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde, Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, and Mellody Hobson, president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments.
Beyond video, the platform includes podcasts — “Moments with Mo,” “Mo & Ted,” and “What Women Really Think” — plus the Mo Abudu Masterclass Series, which kicks off with monthly sessions on “Purpose, Passion and Vision.” There’s also ELEV8, an AI-driven learning tool offering access to over 5,000 videos for skills development and cultural exploration.
The pricing stays where it was announced: $10/year in Nigeria, $30/year internationally. There are also comparable monthly options.
Meanwhile, KAVA, the Filmhouse–Inkblot platform, which debuted in August, is no longer in preview mode. It launched its own mobile app in September, is pushing weekly updates to its users, and now carries over 30 Nollywood films with visible pricing tiers and promotional campaigns. Whatever else KAVA is or isn’t yet, it operates with a straightforward monthly subscription model. The platform has been promoting content like “Queen Lateefah” and claims availability in 190+ countries, and positions itself as “the home of Nollywood and African cinema.” Users can watch on TV, phone, tablet, computer, and various Smart TV brands.
Independently-backed Circuits, which first debuted as a transactional VOD service in late 2024, now offers three distinct pricing tiers. The platform has been particularly aggressive in its marketing and expansion, claiming 1.3 million+ “unique streams” across 170+ countries. It launched Ugandan content in September and expanded to Zambian titles in October. The platform regularly posts box office updates. It claims that “The Waiter” grossed ₦20,145,510 (about $14,000) in 12 hours of its release, “Family Abouhaha” did ₦9,904,432.5 in the same timeframe, using these numbers as social proof of traction.
Circuits has also been building partnerships. It partnered with NIHOTOUR (Nigeria’s National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism) to create culinary and hospitality training content. The platform posts frequently about its social media growth: 300k+ on TikTok, 60k+ on Instagram, 100k+ on YouTube.
In my August EbonyLife ON Plus newsletter announcement, I mentioned that it seemed like a structural comparison to Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network, a platform built on content, personality, curation, and lifestyle framing. Now that Abudu’s platform is live, that link feels more apt. The masterclass series, the podcasts, the AI learning tool, and the fashion and art commerce are the core thesis. The idea is that you’re not just subscribing to a content library. You’re joining a community built around Abudu’s curatorial voice.
OWN took years to find its footing, and during what was a different time and context. With EbonyLife ON Plus, Abudu is betting that people want a trusted filter and a coherent experience that goes beyond just movies and TV shows — particularly in a market where fast, cheap, and algorithmic has been the dominant path.
Nigeria’s streaming space is seeing fresh visible rollout activity on different timelines and with different risk profiles. Each now has a chance to prove that local streaming is not just possible, but operational, and can scale.
The Longer View
Of course, none of this is happening in a vacuum. Back in March, I wrote about iROKOtv’s 15-year experiment and Jason Njoku’s conclusion that, when it came to premium streaming in Nigeria, “the market won.” iROKOtv raised $35M, spent over $100M, and still couldn’t make a standalone SVOD business work at scale. The structural constraints — data costs, low disposable income, currency volatility, and a strong preference for free, ad-supported video — didn’t magically disappear because the intent was good or the library was deep.
At the same time, MultiChoice and Canal+ have been moving in the opposite direction of these new platforms: toward consolidation, bundling, and vertically integrated control. Canal+ acquiring MultiChoice outright; Showmax is being folded into a broader pay-TV and connectivity strategy; StudioCanal is being positioned as a global pipeline for African-facing originals.
Meanwhile, Pathé Group is consolidating its theatrical footprint, and a newer player in Moses Babatope’s Nile Group is pushing a global-facing model one year after launch.
KAVA, Circuits, and EbonyLife ON Plus sit somewhere else on the map. They’re not trying to outspend Canal+ or even Netflix. They’re smaller, digital-first, and, crucially, not banking solely on Nigerian or even strictly African domestic audiences. All three see the diaspora and globally curious viewers as part of their core addressable base—even if they’re going about it in very different ways:
In that sense, each is a response — whether explicitly or not — to what iROKOtv, Netflix, Showmax, and YouTube have already revealed about this market. Pure SVOD is hard. Over-promising scale is dangerous. Bundling, hybridity, and clear identity matter. So does knowing exactly who you’re building for.
I’m not especially interested in declaring winners this early. What I’ll be watching over the next 12–24 months is simpler:
- Who actually deepens their catalog in ways that feel intentional rather than opportunistic.
- Who finds a sustainable balance between local audiences, diaspora viewers, and non-African curiosity.
- Who resists the urge to inflate their claims and instead stays honest about what they can realistically do.
For now, I’ll just say this: from my vantage point as a journalist trying to track it all, this moment feels both crowded and undefined. A lot of activity, but not necessarily a lot of movement.
I don’t know which of these newer digital platforms will still be standing in three to five years. The structural headwinds haven’t gone anywhere, and consolidation at the top end is only accelerating. But taken together, KAVA, Circuits, and EbonyLife ON Plus (but they’re not the only ones) do suggest that the homegrown streaming era in (and around) Nigeria isn’t over. It’s evolving, under pressure, in public, and in real time. And that may be the most honest way to describe where things stand.
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