Top 10 YouTube Creators in Nigeria for 2025

The 2025 YouTube Creator rankings in Nigeria deliver a resounding verdict: the audience’s appetite for long form narrative content is insatiable, positioning Nollywood actors, producers, and indigenous filmmakers as the undisputed digital champions. This list shows that success is measured not by viral short clips, but by total watch time driven by feature length movies and serialized dramas.

Omoni Oboli TV

Leading the charge as the Top Creator of the Year is veteran actress and filmmaker Omoni Oboli. Her channel, Omoni Oboli TV. She leverages her massive brand recognition to host her own high production-value movies and series. Crucially, she supplements this with personalized lifestyle vlogs and behind the scenes content. Her success in the industry is a blueprint for established stars looking to control their own distribution narrative.

Itelediconstudio

The Yoruba Film Kingpin securing the second spot, Itelediconstudio, run by actor and producer Ibrahim Yekini (Itele D Icon), underscores the digital power of Yoruba language cinema. The channel focuses on high-quality, culturally rich indigenous films and short series. Itelediconstudio’s content resonates deeply with the Yoruba diaspora and local audience, generating massive, highly loyal watch time.

Uchenna Mbunabo TV

A powerhouse in the East, Uchenna Mbunabo TV is a prime example of a film producer successfully transitioning into a massive digital distributor. The channel is dedicated almost entirely to uploading full length Nollywood movies and serial dramas, bypassing traditional distribution routes. Mbunabo’s ranking demonstrates that access to a high volume of quality, polished movie content is a key driver for millions of Nigerian viewers who treat the channel as a free, on demand streaming service.

Saira Movies

The presence of Saira Movies at number four highlights the immense digital influence of Kannywood, the Hausa-language film industry based in Northern Nigeria. Run by filmmaker Aminu Saira, the channel caters to a massive Hausa-speaking audience across Nigeria and West Africa. Its high ranking confirms that regional, culturally specific content has incredible digital market power and viewership loyalty.

Maurice Sam TV

Actor Maurice Sam follows the increasingly common trend for Nollywood talent: transforming a personal brand into a distribution platform. Maurice Sam TV features a constant upload schedule of full length movies, often starring himself. This shows that when viewers connect with an actor’s personality, they are highly motivated to follow them directly to their own distribution channel, thus increasing the actor’s creative and financial control.

RuthKadiri247

Actress and filmmaker Ruth Kadiri has built one of the most reliable digital brands in the industry. Her channel, RuthKadiri247, is known for its consistent output of emotional dramas and relatable short series. Her high ranking is a testament to the power of a relentless and professional upload schedule, which keeps her vast audience continuously engaged and coming back for the next release of her work.

APATATV+

APATATV+ is a major force in distributing Yoruba language films and dramas. Unlike creator led channels, APATATV+ is a dedicated production and distribution house, operating as a vital aggregator of indigenous cinema. Its high position underscores the mass appeal of professionally packaged Yoruba movie content and the public’s continuous demand for cultural storytelling.

Uche Montana TV

Actress Uche Montana’s channel success mirrors that of her peers, focusing on uploading full movies and series. As a rising star, her high ranking indicates that the new generation of Nollywood actors are prioritizing direct to consumer digital distribution right from the start of their careers, recognizing YouTube as the most crucial platform for building long term audience loyalty.

Sonia Uche TV

Rounding out the Nollywood domination is Sonia Uche TV. Like the others, this channel focuses on high-drama, emotionally engaging full-length movies that capture the typical Nollywood viewing experience. Her channel’s success further reinforces the fact that narrative continuity and long-form storytelling are the core metrics for success on Nigerian YouTube.

Brain Jotter

The only non-movie channel to crack the Top 10, Brain Jotter, demonstrates the immense difficulty comedy skit makers face in competing with movie channels for watch time. While comedy skits are massive on other platforms, Brain Jotter’s ability to break into this movie-dominated list is a huge achievement. His success is built on a recognizable brand, consistent comedic timing, and viral catchphrases, proving that genuine, high-quality humor can still get enough collective views to compete on the platform.

TikTok Restricts Late-Night Live Streaming for Nigerian Users On Safety Review Claims

TikTok has revealed a new policy that limits late-night live streaming for users in Nigeria, blocking access to the LIVE feature from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. daily. The sudden restriction has sparked concern among creators who depend on night time engagement for stronger audience reach and monetization.

According to a system notification sent to Nigerian accounts, TikTok described the move as a temporary safety measure, noting that the platform is “investigating to ensure our community remains protected.” Only creators who meet TikTok’s eligibility for LIVE; typically those with at least 1,000 followers are affected by the nighttime lockdown.

Why TikTok Is Enforcing the Restriction

Though it’s not yet clear why TikTok has enforced this policy, the company says the restriction is part of an ongoing safety investigation targeted at keeping the Nigerian creator community secure. The platform has intensified content moderation in the country this year, removing millions of videos and banning thousands of LIVE sessions for guideline violations.

In earlier reports, TikTok revealed that over 49,000 LIVE sessions from Nigeria were taken down in 2025 for issues related to adult content, harmful behaviour, and violations of LIVE monetization rules. The new nighttime restriction appears to be an extension of this broader safety according to them.

Impact on Nigerian Creators

For many Nigerian creators, the 11 p.m.– 5 a.m. window is a high traffic period, especially for entertainment, lifestyle updates, gaming streams, and casual community chats. With LIVE now blocked during those hours, creators may experience:

  • Reduced engagement and reach
  • Lower gifting earnings during peak hours
  • A shift in content scheduling and audience behaviour

However, TikTok confirmed that creators’ previous gift earnings and account balances remain untouched, meaning no financial losses on past live sessions.

Nigerians and TikTok: Why the World is Farming Nigerian Engagement

Open TikTok anytime and chances are you’ll come across Nigerian-related content. Jump into the comment section of a non-Nigerian creator and you’re likely to find Nigerians there too, dropping jokes, slang, and reactions that sometimes outshine the video itself.
Nigeria has quietly become one of TikTok’s most influential hubs, not just in Africa but worldwide. And now, people from across the globe are deliberately leaning on Nigerian culture and audiences to boost their own visibility.

TikTok has become the world’s stage for creativity, and few countries have embraced the platform as vibrantly as Nigeria. From dance challenges to comedy skits, Nigerian creators have not only captured local audiences but also shaped global trends. Yet behind the virality lies a curious dynamic: people from other parts of the world are deliberately targeting Nigerian users to farm engagement.

Nigeria’s Rise on TikTok

Nigeria stands out as one of TikTok’s fastest-growing markets in Africa. With more than 60% of its population under the age of 25, the country provides a young, digitally active audience hungry for content. Afrobeats, Nigeria’s most popular cultural export, has become a global soundtrack on the app, pulling millions into dances and remixes that often begin on Nigerian soil.

For TikTok’s algorithm, which favors quick and heavy interaction, Nigerian activity is gold. The country’s users comment, share, and like at strikingly high rates, boosting the visibility of videos in record time. This engagement has turned Nigeria into an unlikely hub for creators around the world who want fast traction on their content.

Farming Engagement: How Global Creators Tap In

Across continents, creators are increasingly tailoring content with Nigerians in mind. The methods vary:

  1. Using Afrobeats tracks to ride viral sound trends.
  2. Recreating Nigerian dance steps or comedy skits for global audiences.
  3. Hashtag targeting, where foreign creators push their content under Nigerian-related tags.

The result is often predictable, Nigerian users engagement is massive, pushing these creators’ videos higher in TikTok’s discovery feed and sometimes to worldwide visibility.

This dynamic has sparked debate: is the global adoption of Nigerian content a form of cultural appreciation, or is it another example of extraction where others profit off creativity without acknowledgment?

Nigerians are not just participants in the TikTok ecosystem; they are the spark that powers it. Our creativity has fueled global trends, soundtracked millions of videos, and reshaped how audiences interact with short-form content.

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