Currently holding a market share of 25.8% in theatres, Nollywood is down from its first-half 2021 high of 39.3%.

A film statistics magazine called Inside Nollywood did an analysis of this and found that the decline occurred despite the fact that overall movie admissions stayed at 1.49 million in both years, with 7,000 more reported in 2022.

The slight rise in overall admissions favoured Hollywood pictures, leaving Nollywood movies fighting for an even smaller share of moviegoers.

Despite the consistent trend over the previous five years, the drop in 2022 is the lowest ever.

Following the article, Nollywood has only been able to capture a market share of around 40% during the past two years, with Hollywood controlling a sizable portion of the remaining 60%.

Although 2021 was a year of pandemic recovery, the industry still managed to hold 39.3 percent of that percentage in the first half of the year, selling roughly 964,523 tickets out of a total of 1,491,530 tickets.

Nollywood sold roughly 520,656 tickets during the first half of 2022 out of the 1,498,934 total tickets sold, a 46 percent decline from the prior year.

Co-publisher of Inside Nollywood and speaker on the data, Anita Eboigbe, said:

 “There are always about 10 Nollywood movies in the cinema per time.”

Ticket prices range from N1,200 to N5,000, depending on the performance and movie’s weekly buzz.

Ms. Eboigbe pointed out that reflection was necessary in light of Nollywood’s declining market share.

She claims that while stakeholders are continuously discussing various options, the audience has become conditioned by filmmakers’ excessive reliance on streaming services, and exhibitors have become lax in promoting the movie culture.