It’s called Boutique Hotel, and appears to have been made in Côte d’Ivoire.

It stars Ivorians, and it’s entirely in French. It’s subtitled in English, of course, but that’s beside the point. It’s not what we expected from Red TV (or any Nigerian content platform, really) to be honest.

But maybe that’s the point. Maybe we entirely misjudged Red TV’s intentions. The fact of this coming just a few weeks after the launch of Our Best Friend’s Wedding points to what we think is a deliberate attempt on Red TV’s parts to ‘cover all bases’ so to speak.

By which we mean, Red TV isn’t just looking to cater to the Nigerian market. A series in French might be a play for audiences in Francophone parts of Africa. And why not? The internet isn’t just limited to Nigeria, after all. And given that competing platform Ndani already enjoys a massive first mover advantage in Nigeria, this could be the thing that seals the deal for Red TV and establishes them as a leader in this field. And who knows what’s next? High quality webseries in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and/or other Nigerian languages?

We continue to observe, and it remains to be seen whether or not this will pay off, but we think it was a smart and commendable move to make. Kudos.

Editor