Afrocritik recognises 10 Nollywood projects on YouTube that were worth watching—and are still worth watching, in case you missed any—in 2025.
Afrocritik’s Film Board
With the tactical withdrawal of Amazon Prime and Netflix, the substantial decline in cable subscriptions, and cinema visits becoming a luxury, Nollywood projects on YouTube have been enjoying increasing notoriety in the past couple of years.
This 2025, in particular, YouTube has been in numerous Nollywood conversations, from NollyTube’s essential place in Nollywood and YouTube’s potential as part of the country’s struggling film distribution system, to the sub-industry’s dilemma with copyright infringement. Specific projects have made their mark as well, with titles like Love in Every Word (on Omoni Oboli TV) breaking the internet and projects like Zikoko Life garnering critical acclaim.
In this list, Afrocritik recognises 10 Nollywood projects on YouTube that were worth watching—and are still worth watching, in case you missed any—in 2025.
Zikoko Life (Zikoko)
Perhaps the boldest, most creatively and technically accomplished Nollywood project to grace YouTube this year, Zikoko Life is a fascinating combination of entertainment and sociopolitical agenda. Inspired by the famous Zikoko editorial franchises, Naira Life, Sex Life, and Love Life, Zikoko Life is an anthology series created by Anita E. Eboigbe for Big Cabal Media and produced by Blessing Uzzi, doubling as showrunner, for BluHouse Studios.
This year, three short films have been released straight to YouTube from the series. Dika Ofoma’s Something Sweet is a literally sweet age-gap romance between a fashion designer in her forties (Michelle Dede) and a twenty-eight-year-old tech bro (Ogranya Jable Osai).
In Victor Daniel and Olamide Adio’s What’s Left of Us, a disagreement over the number of children to be born devolves into the potential end of the marriage between a muslim woman (Tolu Asanu) and her cheating husband (Caleb Richards). And Uzoamaka Power’s My Body, God’s Temple dives into female pleasure through the tale of a newlywed Christian couple struggling with sex.
Zikoko Life is streaming on Zikoko’s YouTube Channel here.
The Perfect Lie (Omoni Oboli TV)
You would struggle to find a Nollywood romcom feature this year that delivers on its romance tropes as authentically or adequately as NollyTube’s The Perfect Lie. Directed by Magnifique Ecrivaine, the film stars Michael Dappa and Ekama Etim-Inyang as unfriendly former schoolmates who pretend to be married in order to rent a nice home from a strict landlady, after their relentless individual apartment searches yield no result.
With a premise instantly recognisable to any Lagosian who has attempted house-hunting, a convincing backstory that is deeply rooted in Nigerian school realities, a commendable commitment to developing the enemies-to-lovers and fake-relationship tropes it relies on, and chemistry-strong performances from its gorgeous leads, The Perfect Lie is one of Nollywood’s most decent romcoms of recent years.
The Perfect Lie is streaming on Omoni Oboli TV here.
The Most Toasted Girl: Season 2 (TheNengers)
The first season of Nengi Adoki’s The Most Toasted Girl premiered in 2019 as a hilarious web series that followed the chaotic dating life of a single young woman—literally called The Most Toasted Girl (TG)—in Lagos. Six years later, Adoki returns with a more expansive and maybe even funnier second season, where TG is navigating Lagos hustle (and dating scene) after a failed attempt to “japa” due to lack of funds.
In The Most Toasted Girl, Adoki flexes impressive filmmaking techniques while leaning into old Nollywood filmmaking themes and styles as TG attempts to outhustle the system without the necessary resources.
The Most Toasted Girl is streaming on TheNengers’ YouTube channel here.
Laraba and Balarabe (Susan Pwajok TV)
An infuriating but gripping watch, Laraba and Balarabe is an unsparing exploration of heartbreak and toxic relationships. When Balarabe, an ex-lover, knocks at Laraba’s door, he returns with a familiarity that Laraba has missed, but also all the hurt and emotional damage that she’s yet to truly heal from.
Written and directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay, Laraba and Balarabe stars Susan Pwajok and Mallum Arik in the titular roles.
Laraba and Balarabe was available on Susan Pwajok TV until the channel was recently taken down from YouTube.
Boys Like Us (Carmsee TV)
A group of gay men are living together in Lagos and dealing with the many dramas of youth in Boys Like Us, a web series created by Kamisi Adebisi and starring Kem Ajieh-Ikechukwu, Leopatrick Ikay Nnubia, Oscar Chihurumnanya, and Bobby Emmanuel Okoye.
Without denying the social realities of a conservative society, Boys Like Us follows its ensemble—a medical doctor, a fashion stylist, a failed mixologist, and a marketing executive—as they navigate love, life and family expectations in their twenties and thirties.
Boys Like Us is streaming on Carmsee TV here.
The Wives (The Elevation Church)
If faith-based dramas are your preference, NollyTube has that, too. Top of the pack this year is The Wives, a web series that explores marital challenges, particularly those experienced by young wives, from a Christian perspective. With all episodes directed by Orire Nwani and produced by Josh Olaoluwa, the show stars Anee Icha, Sharon Rotimi, Tomi Ojo, Tope Tedela, Patrick Diabuah, and Timilehin Ojeola.
The Wives is emotionally tasking, but that is the point. It’s also a delicate, mature and scandalous drama, held up by convincing performances.
The Wives is streaming on The Elevation Church’s YouTube channel here.
King Lotanna (Uduak Isong TV)
If you’re interested in “Nollywood epics”, especially epics where the main dish is romance, then King Lotanna is certainly for you. Enyinna Nwigwe plays a strict but just king whose throne is challenged when he falls in love with a single mother, played by Chinonso Arubayi.
The dialogue is outlandish, even for a period drama, but once you get past that, you’re in for a mature, well-developed love story where the obstacle doesn’t feel merely invented—as with most Nollywood romance dramas—and the resolution is undeniably earned.
Directed by Emmanuel Chidiebere Nwosu from a screenplay by Adaeze Ibechukwu, King Lotanna is one of the better NollyTube romances this year.
King Lotanna is streaming on Uduak Isong TV here.
To Be a Friend (Bimbo Ademoye TV)
If you are looking for some genre diversity on NollyTube, To Be a Friend is a decent place to start. Directed by Great Valentine Edochie, from a screenplay written by Bimbo Ademoye, Collins C. Okoh, and Oyindamola Adebayo, To Be a Friend is a mostly straightforward thriller-drama about friendship, loyalty and betrayal.
Starring Deyemi Okanlawon, Kunle Remi, Bimbo Ademoye and Uzor Arukwe, the film is more predictable than it realises, but it is an interesting and engaging watch, which is more than can be said for the Nollywood cinema, paid streaming and festival films that have been released this year with similar plots.
To Be a Friend is streaming on Bimbo Ademoye TV here.
Christmas Between Worlds (Omoni Oboli TV)
If any Nollywood film has come close enough to being a proper Christmas movie this year, it’s Christmas Between Worlds. Another romcom starring Michael Dappa—again—and Omeche Oko, the film follows a discontented young man collapsing under the pressures of the season who has to learn Christmas values when his Christmas wish suddenly comes true, with unexpected costs.
Directed by Joy Isi Bewaji, with lively performances from the leads, Christmas Between Worlds understands the spirit of a Christmas movie and still manages to localise it in relatable ways.
Christmas Between Worlds is streaming on Omoni Oboli TV here.
Ashabi’s Child (Bolaji Ogunmola TV)
On occasion, NollyTube attempts a social issues drama. How the filmmakers handle such social issues is typically a cause for concern. After all, while films are inherently political, social issues dramas are even more so, and contemporary Nollywood is not exactly famed for deft handling of social messaging. But Ashabi’s Child, also directed by Magnifique Ecrivaine, written by Owumi Ugbeye, and starring Bolaji Ogunmola, Darasimi Ogbetah, and Michael Ejoor, makes a welcome attempt.
In Ashabi’s Child, a school bully gets expelled from school and has to face the wrath of her abusive single mother. And then, things get worse when she is found to be pregnant. The film could have been tighter and better-written, but its handling of abuse, intergenerational trauma and healing is considerably better than most of what mainstream Nollywood has offered this year.
Ashabi’s Child is streaming on Bolaji Ogunmola TV here.
Special Mentions
- Unlawfully Yours (Uchenna Mbunabo TV)
- Never Far Away (Gold Screen TV)
- The Art of the Heart (Stella Damasus TV)
- Fine Girl (TNC Africa)
- Almost 25 (ChinneyLoveEze Tv)