A southeast Nigerian startup wants to become the “Netflix of documentaries”

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world indoors in 2020, streaming audiences went hunting for more than sitcoms and Marvel reruns. Documentaries—long a second-class citizen in the streaming world— moved quietly to the front row. Now, a startup out of Aba, southeastern Nigeria—once an  epicenter of Nollywood’s DVD distribution boom—thinks it has the answer for the next phase of that demand. OptimalVid, founded in 2024 by Praise Igwe and a small team of engineers and content junkies, is betting that a dedicated documentary streaming platform—with cheaper, smarter, and more flexible access—can carve out a place in the crowded streaming universe. It’s a risky idea. But sometimes, the best ideas are. With a planned app rollout later this month, OptimalVid will allow users to stream documentary content for $2 per month. Unlike many platforms, users will be able to pause their subscription—a feature built for fluctuating economic realities. “Let’s say you’ve used your subscription for 15 days, but you know you won’t be streaming for the next few days. With OptimalVid, you can pause your subscription for 3, 5, or 7 days so you don’t lose value during downtime. It’s a way to make sure your payment stretches further, especially when life gets in the way,” Igwe, CEO and Co-founder of the startup said in an interview.” However, users cannot pause for more than 10 days in a 30-day billing cycle.  At launch, the platform will source royalty-free and free-to-air documentaries. Over time, it plans to license premium titles from content marketplaces like All Rights and Filmhub, where deals can be made for as little as $500 for 100 titles per month. A niche that’s growing faster than you think Documentaries are still very niche, but a growing one. According to recent projections by Market Research Future, a data and intelligence firm, the global market for documentary films and shows will almost double by 2034, from $4.83 billion in 2025 to $8.95 billion. More importantly, audience behaviour is shifting: more viewers, particularly post-pandemic, are seeking nonfiction content that informs as much as it entertains. “People want to learn now, not just escape,” Igwe said. “They want content that’s not just made-up stories.” OptimalVid’s gamble is that it can serve this evolving appetite better than the current behemoths who operate in this niche streaming space. But it’s a long road, and the competition is brutal. Players like CuriosityStream (with over 25 million subscribers), Kanopy, and DocuBay already dominate the niche with deeper pockets and broader libraries. On the African continent, AfriDocs offers free streaming of African and international documentaries. And looming over everyone are platforms like YouTube and Netflix, where documentary content is either free or produced at a blockbuster scale. The business model and the real test OptimalVid is betting that lower prices (a $2 launch subscription, and a subsequent $5 fee per month) and subscription pausing—a rarely offered feature—will make it sticky among cost-conscious users. Its early strategy is simple: start with low-cost licensing, build an audience, raise capital, and eventually invest in exclusive rights and original productions. The startup is currently raising a $1.5 million seed round to bankroll this vision, with funds earmarked for content licensing, cloud infrastructure, and modest team scaling. However, building a global streaming platform from Aba faces major challenges. Nigeria’s streaming market is still small. Netflix estimated in 2023 that South Africa had almost seven times more streaming customers than Nigeria—1.1 million versus 169,600. This fact is not lost on Igwe; he is building OptimalVid for global reach, echoing moves by Nigerian streaming pioneers like IrokoTV. In 2020, IrokoTV CEO Jason Njoku announced a pivot away from Africa-focused growth to international markets with higher consumer spending. But reaching a global audience means competing with better-funded platforms that can spend heavily on original content, a proven growth driver for streaming platforms. Netflix, for example, allocated a large chunk of its $17 billion content budget for 2024 to originals and added a record 19 million new subscribers after releasing hits like the second season of Squid Game. Betting on a smarter screen OptimalVid’s early moves—lean licensing, flexible subscriptions, and global-first design—are smart bets for a scrappy startup. But surviving in the brutal economics of streaming will take more than good ideas. Without exclusive content, the platform risks becoming just another option in an ocean of free and premium services. Still, the timing feels right. The demand for nonfiction storytelling is swelling, and audiences everywhere are seeking new voices and smarter screen time. If streaming’s next big shift comes from an unexpected corner of the world, it wouldn’t be the first time. “We’ll focus on our own documentaries for now, and we hope to do so for a long time. In the future when we become category kings in this industry, we might extend to other industries,” Igwe said.