Basket Mouth faults high data charges for low YouTube hits
Renowned Nigerian stand-up comedian Basket Mouth famous for his ‘Two Things Involved’ jokes has claimed that he does not make much money online because many of his fans cannot afford data charges. PHOTO| COURTESY
What you need to know:
“We have millions of people who want to watch YouTube videos but the problem is data is expensive, so if data becomes cheap, more viewers you get, more money you make.”
Renowned Nigerian stand-up comedian Basket Mouth famous for his ‘Two Things Involved’ jokes has claimed that he does not make much money online because many of his fans cannot afford data charges.
The comedian blamed the high cost of data charges for the low patronage his YouTube channel has, stating that most of his visitors are from the US, UK and other parts of the world and not his native home.
The comedian revealed this at the Nigeria Entertainment Conference that was held in Lagos last week.
“We have millions of people who want to watch YouTube videos but the problem is data is expensive, so if data becomes cheap, more viewers you get, more money you make.”
“The amount I make on my YouTube channel is nothing to be proud of, people who are watching are like 60% from the UK and people from the US, then the rests are from South Africa, Europe and some other countries, Nigeria is actually just a little fraction. The audience wants to watch my videos but cannot afford it which is the reason they go ahead to buy pirated CDs,” he said.
Nevertheless, Basket Mouth who was voted number two best comedian in Africa in 2010 by MNET is among the top 5 richest comedians in Nigeria with an annual income of N120 million (Sh60 million) where he gets N100 million (Sh50 million) from his ‘Basket Mouth Uncensored’ Show with the rest of the money coming from endorsements according to Naija.com.
