Communiqué 45: Why Nigerian skit creators are flocking to YouTube

Comedy content creators like Layi Wasabi are betting on YouTube’s monetization ecosystem and experimenting with longer video formats.

1. Reintroduction

On October 24, Layi Wasabi, a popular Nigerian skitmaker, posted his first video on YouTube. This, in many ways, was a departure from the style and format that the creator had become known for. His videos hardly ever lasted beyond 3 minutes. But this time around, he was pushing boundaries to create a series of short films over 7 minutes long.

The video series features his popular character, The Law, a bumbling lawyer who often finds himself in outrageous situations. But Wasabi’s switch to YouTube isn’t just about trying out new material; it’s a move to a platform that several creators believe offers greater monetization potential, creative freedom, and stability.

Layi Wasabi, whose real name is Isaac Olayiwola, got his start posting skits on Instagram while studying Law at Bowen University in Southwest Nigeria. In 2021, a skit he made about blocking his mom on WhatsApp went viral, bringing him into the limelight. Building on this initial success, he created characters like The Law, Officer Robert, and Mr. Richard, whose comical misadventures and exaggerated personas repeatedly captured audiences. His popularity surged, leading to industry recognition with awards at the Trend Up Creator Awards—one of Nigeria’s first influencer award shows— in 2023 and the African Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA)—the continent’s top movie industry award show—in 2024.

Wasabi’s move to YouTube aligns with a broader trend of Nigerian creators who got their initial breaks on short-form video platforms like Instagram and TikTok now gravitating toward YouTube. Fellow Nigerian creators like Shank Comics, Gilmore, Broda Shaggi, and Justin Ug have also started making YouTube-native content, taking advantage of the platform to reach more global audiences. YouTube also comes with promises of a different kind of revenue stream.

2. Show me the money

“YouTube offers Nigerian skit makers access to ad revenue—once you hit the threshold to get into the YouTube partner program, which is 4,000 hours of watch time and 1,000 subscribers, it allows you to earn money directly from views, and this is a consistent thing,” Adetutu Laditan, a former senior product marketing manager at YouTube, told Communiqué. “Some creators are already captivated by that opportunity. It’s also paying them in foreign exchange, on a monthly basis.”

Laditan helped build out the platform’s marketing strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa over the last decade.

Already, creators can monetize through brand deals and sponsorships. However, this has severe limitations. From Communiqué 16: How to think about Africa’s creator economy:

“Creators are only as relevant as the buzz they generate, and every serious creator knows they won’t be hot forever. Depending on brands for sponsorship deals also means creators have no ownership or equity. They are entirely at the mercy of the entities that pay them for promoting their products and services.”

This promise of financial reward beyond brand deals is how YouTube sets itself apart, at least for now. The platform’s monetization options through AdSense and its partner program, available in Nigeria since 2013, offer creators the chance to earn more consistently compared to other platforms, where direct monetization is more limited.

In 2023, for instance, Nigerian comedy content creator Mark Angel made $4.3 million in YouTube earnings alone, making him the third-highest-earning YouTuber in Africa. By contrast, Meta only announced in July that it had enabled monetization options for Nigerian and Ghanian creators. Not much has been heard about this since. TikTok, on the other hand, still does not have a direct monetization program for content creators in Africa.

3. For the love of freedom

Laditan believes that YouTube’s support of longer video formats gives creators more freedom to experiment with storytelling and character development in ways that other short-form video platforms do not.

With longer video formats, creators can develop their content beyond short skits. Rather than cramming several punchlines and jokes into an Instagram reel, YouTube videos allow content creators more time to set up scenarios and build suspense, creating new avenues for creative expression. For example, Justin Ug has been making Instagram skits about his secondary school experiences since 2018. In 2020, he developed the series into a short film on YouTube and is now planning to create a full-length TV series.

4. The connected TV trend

Connected TV refers to the practice of using TVs and streaming devices to access digital content at home. This trend enables viewers to stream movies, shows, and live events from platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube directly on their televisions instead of on mobile devices.

Smartphones remain a major tool for content consumption, but so are smart TVs. There’s been an upward tick in the number of people watching online videos on smart TVs, especially for longform content.

According to Laditan, “A lot more people are watching digital content on their TV screens. Even if you don’t have a smart TV—which a lot of homes are now getting—there are streaming adapters like the Chromecast or Airtel Smart TV. If creators want to tap into this new trend where living room content viewership is growing, [they] need to be thinking of YouTube as a platform for distribution.”

Unlike Instagram and TikTok, which are mostly mobile-oriented and favor short, vertical videos, YouTube’s streaming options are optimized for larger screens. Creators are taking advantage of this trend to reach a new category of viewers on their TV screens.

5. A nod to YouTube’s support system

Compared to other platforms, YouTube has cultivated a strong relationship with content creators on the continent. It has developed a support system with programs like the Black Voices Fund and YouTube Next Up, which provide analytics tools, training, and educational resources to help creators grow their channels.

“We started intentionally finding opportunities to engage with skit makers and filmmakers,” Laditan said. “We have all these skitmakers come into the office, where we do one-on-one sessions with them on their content strategy or the business of YouTube because it is a business. And what we then started doing was unlocking opportunities for them to find new audiences.” Other platforms are only just beginning to catch up, with Meta establishing its Creator Lab Live program in Nigeria last year.

This trend of content creators starting to create content for YouTube is also positioning them to reshape Nigeria’s traditional film industry. As creators gain skills in storytelling, character development, and production techniques to create long-form, high-engagement content on YouTube, they’re acquiring the very tools that drive the traditional film industry. This crossover potential allows them to produce content that resembles mainstream cinema or television, blurring the lines between skits and professional filmmaking.

It also reflects a shift in the psyche of the average creator, who is now becoming more business-minded, investing in higher production quality, and engaging storytelling. It shows a growing focus on professionalism, where creators are refining their production skills to meet higher audience expectations for long-form content on YouTube.

As a result, Nigeria’s content creation industry is maturing, encouraging more aspiring creators to view content creation as a viable career path and contributing to the country’s growing digital economy.