Communiqué 59: A cruise ship inspired by Jubilee Media

Cruise, a fast-growing Nigerian YouTube channel, has drawn significantly from Jubilee Media’s playbook. But can it survive competition?

1. All aboard the cruise ship

On Saturday afternoon, I was in a studio in Lekki, Lagos. The set was simple—a pristine white backdrop, like a blank canvas waiting to be filled with stories, emotions, and the complexities of human connection. The bright studio lights cast no shadows as if to suggest that here, in this space, everything is laid bare. And indeed, the lives of five young men would be laid bare over the next four hours.

Not too long after, the five men filed onto the set in a row, their postures a mix of confidence and unease. In front of them was a woman with a calm demeanor and a piercing gaze. She studied the men, preparing to scrutinize them. She was a mother, entrusted with a decision that feels deeply personal and profoundly significant: choosing the right partner for her daughter.

On that set, I’m witnessing the filming of an episode of “Playing Cupid,” a dating series that is one of the flagship shows of the fast-rising Nigerian YouTube channel, Cruise.

At the end of 2024, Ibidunni Oladayo, Cruise’s founder, appeared on Joy150, a popular curation of the most influential people in Nigerian culture, for his work building out the channel. Unlike the several musicians, actors, and content creators on the list, Oladayo had not released any chart-topping songs or starred in any Nollywood blockbuster. He had only grown a YouTube channel from scratch. But that channel had become a cultural mirror, reflecting the tensions, values, and generational divides that define contemporary Nigeria. With episodes like “Can Voodooists and Christians See Eye to Eye?” and “If Identical Twins Were 100% Honest,” the channel had gone viral, racking up over 14 million views with 190,000 subscribers in just over a year.

Oladayo did not create something new; he only took a playbook that had been wildly successful elsewhere and executed it perfectly within the Nigerian context.