Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Nollywood on Regional Theatre Attendance in South East Nigeria

Nollywood's dominance in Nigerian entertainment has fundamentally changed the media landscape, and empirically investigating whether it has displaced regional theatre attendance or generated a parallel audience base addresses an important cultural economics question in South East Nigeria. This study empirically investigated the relationship between Nollywood consumption and live theatre attendance patterns in Enugu, Anambra, and Imo States, South East Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was employed, with a structured questionnaire administered to 480 adults (160 per state) assessing Nollywood consumption frequency, live theatre attendance in the preceding 12 months, reasons for attendance or non-attendance, demographic profiles, and arts engagement motivations. Logistic regression was applied to identify predictors of theatre attendance. Results showed that 76.3 percent of high Nollywood consumers (above 10 films monthly) attended live theatre zero times in the preceding year. However, the most frequent live theatre attendees also showed high Nollywood consumption, suggesting complementary rather than substitutive behaviour in a sub-segment of arts-engaged adults. Income level was the strongest predictor of live theatre attendance. Awareness of available theatre productions was very low at 23.7 percent of the sample. The study concludes that Nollywood consumption and live theatre attendance are largely non-substitutive but that arts engagement culture is narrowly concentrated. Recommendations include subsidised ticketing, joint marketing strategies, and collaborative events between Nollywood practitioners and stage theatre producers to cross-pollinate audiences in South East Nigeria.

Keywords: Nollywood, theatre attendance, South East Nigeria, cultural consumption, arts audience