Ghanaian film critic, Tony Asankomah, has broached the topic of film distribution in Ghana and its concomitant effects.
In a recent interview on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z he attributed the lower visibility of Ghanaian films on Netflix to distribution gap.
“A lot goes into it, talking about the quality and the standards, the requirements that they need to enable you get your film onto Netflix. But I have maintained and I am saying this that, our biggest problem as a space is because we do not have Ghanaian distributors who understand the terrain for distribution of films now.
So all the Ghanaian films that you see on Netflix, they didn’t get there by chance. They went through a distributor who could be a Nigerian or South African company who understands the model and these distribution companies always have a quota of films they have to submit. So of course, I am from this country, I would prioritize content coming from my country that content coming from Ghana,” he told the host Kwame Dadzie.
He emphasised that he had seen some very good Ghanaian films that could not make it through to Netflix because of the distributor they dealt with, and he was also privy to some very horrible films from different parts of the world ended up on Netflix.
He also touched on the business of demand meeting supply, as one of the reasons there are not many Ghanaian movies on Netflix.
“We have come to understand how Nigerians paying for subscription. So if Netflix is paying for their data they know where the money is coming from. They know those who are paying more for subscription. They will entertain them. They look at the analytics and know the type of films they watch, these are the kind of content they are interested in,” he said.
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service that primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple languages.
Some Ghanaian films on Netflix are ‘The Burial of Kojo’, ‘Keteke’, ‘Azali’, ‘Gold Coast Lounge’, ‘Side Chic Gang’, ‘Aloe Vera’, ‘Ties That Bind’, among others.