High data costs hurting Ghanaian movie viewership on YouTube, others — Ola Michael

The high cost of internet data in Ghana is negatively impacting the ability of Ghanaian films to survive and get viewership on YouTube, according to famed Ghanaian filmmaker and media personality Ola Michael.

In an interview, Ola said Ghanaian producers face an uphill battle getting their films seen on YouTube due to data charges being a deterrent for local viewers.

"If I, as a producer, want to get my film on a streaming platform, let’s say on YouTube, how many Ghanaians are going to watch that film, especially if it’s in 1 hour? Because people will be thinking about how much data they’re going to spend watching this movie,” Michael stated.

He advised Ghanaian YouTube content creators to limit videos to 10 minutes maximum so as to entice viewers on a limited data budget.

According to Ola Michael, full-length feature films are unlikely to get viewership from Ghanaians dealing with expensive data.

"But if you’re doing a feature like the Nigerians are doing on YouTube, it’s not going to work for you unless you are lucky for Ghanaians outside to also get to know of it and watch it," he noted.

He further drew comparisons to Nigeria's film industry, saying producers there are successfully releasing movies to YouTube, cinemas, and platforms like Netflix by tapping a larger audience base both domestically and internationally.

The production veteran called for more support and investment in Ghana's film sector, arguing high data costs are "killing" the industry by limiting the ability of productions to reach local viewers through digital platforms.