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July 13, 2022

July 13, 2022July 13, 2022 IFMNEWS

Youtube Shorts Gets 100 Billion Views Per Month

In April 2022, YouTube Shorts, a content form on YouTube that contains short form content sampled from long-form videos, generated over 100 billion views.

The company revealed the information during a press conference that simultaneously marked the company's one-year anniversary in Nigeria.

According to the firm, Shorts is watched by approximately 1.5 billion logged-in visitors each month.

According to the firm, artist and creator channels that uploaded both short and long-form content had higher total watch time and subscriber growth than those who exclusively uploaded long-form content.

Its stated aim was to give everyone a voice, to assist producers in growing their audiences, and to be inspired by new video formats.

"Shorts have become a crucial element of the YouTube experience for our creators and users," said YouTube's Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan.

“Now being watched by over 1.5B logged in users every month, the product is growing thanks to the creativity of our community. While we’re still at the beginning of our journey with Shorts, we look forward to continuing to innovate the product so our creators can continue to express themselves, connect with their audiences, and increase their reach and revenue opportunities on the platform.”

“For artists, the path to success has never been more demanding, so we’re designing products like Shorts to make YouTube THE place for them to connect with their fans and grow long-term, sustainable music careers.

“We’ve been hard at work innovation and refining the product features our community knows and loves to incorporate this new video format into the broader YouTube experience.”

YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, added, “Everybody knows that our mission at YouTube is to become the leading revenue generator for the music industry.

“Money is great, but it’s not enough. Building artist fandom is equally important. We want YouTube to be the place for artists to connect and create meaningful relationships with their fans and grow long-term, sustainable music careers; Shorts, combined with long-form video, is proving to be a critical way to do that.

“It’s our job to make sure that once fans find their life’s soundtrack on Shorts, they are met with prompts that encourage them to dive deeper into an artist’s repertoire. YouTube is the only platform that can bring that experience to reality and we are all in on making it happen.”

The company said its decision to continue with the Shorts feature was as an answer to the need of creators and artists.

Naira Falls To N611/$1 At The Black Market

The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N420.5/$1 at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

Naira closed slightly weaker on Wednesday with a 0.05% depreciation to close at N420.5/$1 compared to N420.28/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. This is according to information from the website the FMDQ Exchange.

Naira grew weaker against the US dollar on Thursday despite improvement in FS supply at the official market. The exchange rate declined by 0.12% to close at N420.5/$1 compared to N420/$1, which it closed on Wednesday. This is according to information culled from the website the FMDQ Exchange.

The Naira on Wednesday depreciated at the Investors and Exporters window, exchanging at N420.50 to the dollar, a 0.05 depreciation against N420.27 traded on Tuesday.

The open indicative rate closed at N419.46 to the dollar on Wednesday. An exchange rate of N444.00 to the dollar was the highest rate recorded within the day’s trading before it settled at N420.50.

The Naira sold for as low as N412 to the dollar within the day’s trading.

A total of $71.99 million in FX value exchanged hands on Wednesday as against the $108.06 million that was traded in the previous day, representing a 33.38% decrease.

The exchange rate at the parallel market depreciated by 0.66% to trade at N611/$1 on Thursday morning, from N607/$1 recorded as of the previous trading session. This is according to information from BDC operators.

The Naira which opened trading at N419.71 closed at N421.33 to a dollar at the close of business on Monday.

The local currency hit an intraday high of N413.00 and stooped to a low of N444.00 before settling at N421.33 per $1, with $46.07 million posted as foreign exchange turnover at the close of business on Monday.

The highest rate the naira has traded against the greenback currency this month at the official market so far was when it closed at N419.75 per $1 on June 6, and the weakest rate it has recorded this month was when it closed at N422.50 to a dollar on June 9.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate at the peer-to-peer market recorded a slight uptick on Thursday morning, trading at N612.85/$1 compared to N613/$ recorded as of the same time on Wednesday, 22nd June 2022.

Nigeria’s external reserves increased by 0.07% on Tuesday, 21st June 2022 to stand at $38.82 billion from $38.79 billion recorded the previous day. The nation’s external had been on a downward trend due to the continuous intervention by the Central Bank in the FX market in order to ensure the stability of the local currency. However, elevated crude oil prices have seen the reserve level improve.

Naira broke off the #590 marking of the black market in March, due to forex scarcity and since then, has been on the rise. Exchangers at the black market attributed the continuous fall of the naira against the dollar to scarcity of forex they are currently experiencing.

Petrol Marketers Increase Pump Price Amid Fuel Scarcity

According to an oil marketer, the scenario of gasoline scarcity will last till the beginning of next week.

Nigerians are already paying extra for gasoline even though the official price is still N165 per litre due to the country's widespread fuel shortage.

The situation changed after the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) implemented a new pricing structure over the weekend. Many of them argued that selling at the official price amounted to operating at a loss.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) confirmed this in a statement by its Lagos State Depot (LSD) Secretary, Akeem Balogun, who said, "With the present pricing, there is no way we can sell less than N180 per litre.

“Members are hereby advised to sell at a sustainable price within their environment. Just make sure that the price is on your pump.”

Due to the lack of commercial vehicles, the development on Monday, June 20, 2022, caused gasoline shortages in Lagos and left commuters stuck throughout the state.

Many independent gas stations were closed, and those that did open had huge lines of automobiles, motorcyclists, commercial drivers, and people carrying jerrycans waiting to fuel their vehicles with gasoline.

Numerous people turned to hiking to get where they needed to go, which resulted in high traffic on the Ikorodu Road, Ikoyi, Ikeja, Airport Road, Oshodi, Ejigbo, Egbeda, Ikotun, and Igando.

Other cities throughout the nation, including Abuja, Akure, Ado-Ekiti, Abeokuta, Jos, and many more, all reported fuel shortages.

Along with IPMAN's explanation, a source from the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), who talked with TheNation, said that the supply chain disruption was to blame for the shortage.

The anonymous source said, when there is a disruption in the supply chain, it “takes an average of almost two weeks to get it back to normal.”

The source added that the situation would linger till the early part of next week because the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) restored supply late on Monday.

May 26, 2022

May 26, 2022 IFM Social Media

Uber Hits 1bn Trip Milestone In Africa

Yesterday Uber said it hit one billion trips in Africa since entering the market less than 10 years ago.

The journeys totaled over 10 billion kilometers, which is the equivalent of traveling to and from the moon 5500 times

Uber and Uber Eats have jointly reached over 30 million passengers and eaters in Sub-Saharan Africa within the same time period.

While the rides helped transport enough people, they also provided economic empowerment to the Uber app's independent drivers, as well as establishing Uber as a firm that promotes digital entrepreneurship.

Uber said its mission was not just to support entrepreneurs and mobility, but also to make mobility more affordable for the people on the African continent.

Head of Communications for East and West Africa Lorraine Onduru, said: “Since entering the market in 2013, we have created over six million economic opportunities in over 50 cities across Sub Saharan Africa, SSA that we are present in. We pride ourselves in building locally but using global expertise. Each country’s needs are unique so we take the time to understand each of the market needs so we can be responsive and adapt accordingly”.

The tech company says in June, it will officially mark six years in Ghana, another testament to the role itplays as a partner to the cities it operates in.

Besides moving people around, Uber also moves food with its Uber Eats launched six years ago in South Africa. Uber Eats has expanded the number of restaurants from 1000 since launch, to over 8000 merchants across 36 cities in South Africa and Kenya.

Onduru says: “We’ve expanded our offerings in markets where we currently operate, innovating with new business models to serve changing needs. The focus for Uber in Africa as it embarks on the next one billion trips is to continue unlocking opportunities through movement and changing how people, food, and things move through cities.” She added that each country in Africa that Uber operates in, offers its own unique opportunities.

“We have found the region to be defined by agility, creativity and adaptability. This provides Uber with the perfect conditions to launch and nurture our on-demand economy in collaboration with the local partners to adapt a global business model into an African environment with diverse political, business and socio-economic dynamics,” she said.

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Youtube Shorts Gets 100 Billion Views Per Month

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