Name: How did 'IShowSpeed' boost content creation on the Continent? | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-01-31T16:58:18.000Z
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From the kickoff in Cape Town, the American streamer and YouTuber iShowSpeed certainly delivered what his name promises, zapping from Algeria to Zimbabwe.

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Some of his destinations on the continent were already clearly on the world's agenda, like his surprise appearance at the AFCON final in Morocco, popping out of the costume of the mascot Assad the Lion at the final in Rabat.

Well, the attractions of the West African nation weren't on many bucket lists till the content creator from Cincinnati sped into Cotonou, making the capital another stop on his Speed Does Africa tour, which has been praised for presenting a fresh view of the continent's rich cultural heritage, including revelations of his own ancestral links to Ghana.

And a personal milestone in Nigeria, where our West Africa correspondent Azizat Olaula caught up with the megastar streamer.

He is one of the world's biggest digital stars, and

across Africa, the reception for Ishowspeed has been loud.

Ishowspeed was welcomed to Lagos by hundreds of young Nigerian fans as he continued his Africa tour live streaming every moment.

The YouTube star celebrated his 21st birthday and a huge streaming milestone, hitting 50 million subscribers online with a cake to the face.

He's been meeting with young people across the state and many of them have seen him as an iconic figure who inspires them to go into content creation.

Ishowspeed's fans believe his visit is shining a global spotlight on a continent often misunderstood.

And part of his appeal is how he interacts unscripted, instinctive and close to the people around him.

I saw this stream, my friends texted me and he told me that, oh, this stream is happening.

And I immediately started running and I started tracking over him.

I'm still happy at the moment I'm standing outside, I'm not too far from him.

Inspires everybody as a black person to want to do better and also evidence that you can actually be what you put your mind to.

Ishowspeed started out posting video game clips and now 10 years later, he is one of the most influential digital creators on the planet, Named the US Magazine Rolling Stone Creator of the Year and worth an estimated $20 million, according to Forbes.

Aisha Speed was treated like royalty at every stop.

The mood here is electrifying as content creators in Nigeria are coming here to meet up with Aisha Speedy, who is inside.

We can't go close to him because his bodyguards do not want media around him because he's streaming and they don't want anything to mess up his streaming.

However, the mood here among young people in Nigeria, Lagos, Niger, Nigeria has been indescribable.

They say that he inspires them and oh my God, you can just imagine how it is right here.

Everybody's just moving around everywhere and behind me there are lots of activities of movements going on.

People want to see ishowspeed and it's been moving to one location or the other across Lagos.

And all I can tell you is that ishowspeed feels right at home in Africa.

Many have described Ishowspeed's Africa tour as not just travel content or entertainment, but

a much needed exposure for Africa and its youth and importantly, showing a different view of the continent.

I'm excited that a young black African is here in Nigeria to highlight some of the good things about Nigeria to the world.

So his presence here would also inspire so many young people to be able to do, to follow their path and you know, just push for whatever they believe in.

And maybe you never can tell, you'll be a world sensation as well.

Africa's digital community is ready for its moments on the global stage.

We're going to get Sharon Mashiri's take on this.

She's a travel journalist and digital content creator based in Nairobi.

It's great to have you on the program, Sharon.

Now that the dust has settled, so to say.

And having reflected upon it all, how would you sum it all up?

I think it was about time that the world got to see the Africa that I, for one experience, I write about as a travel journalist because I think what he did, and

I want to speak to the power of platform.

As someone who's worked in tech, someone who's been a journalist for over a decade, the power of this entire thing is when technology democratizes media.

If this was not being live streamed on, you know.

On a streaming app, I don't think it would have the effect that we've seen today.

And so I think it was about time that the narrative about Africa was allowed to be, you know, told through people that are not gatekeepers, people who don't particularly have an agenda.

This kid was just trying to have a good time and stream it to his friends.

And the result of that was people got to see Africa in its true purest form, which is full of vibes, full of community, full of humor, and

And you're right about the fact that people got to see the Africa that we experience on a daily in our cities.

But can we already get a sense, Sharon, of what the real impact, so to say, of the streaming tour has been?

Are there gains that can already be counted?

I mean, from just what I've seen online, I saw this entrepreneur, so she's in Ghana, and

And I think it was one of the more popular.

I mean, everything he did was super popular, but

it was one of the more popular places he visited.

And they posted that ever since he went on this live stream and had this incredible massage by all these Ghanaian women with like.

Apparently, the museum has now had bookings all the way from January through to March this year.

So to me, that is a powerful example of what happens when, you know, when this kind of impact trickles down to the actual people and just staying on that point, then can local content creators achieve the same thing, Sharon?

Would they get the same kind of traction that Ishowspeed got?

Local content creators speak to a completely different context.

You know, Ishowspeed had the backing and support of, like, government.

I think local content creators, the lesson they can borrow from this is the power of authenticity.

What I show Speed did was just be true to himself.

Like he was not trying to be anybody else but himself.

It made a few people uncomfortable because he's so raw.

But I think local content creators, a lot of the time, they try to emulate the creators that they see from the west, you know, trying to package themselves differently.

And so I think the lesson to learn there really is how to be authentic with who you are, whether you're from Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, just be yourself.

And that's going to resonate with the world.

And I guess, you know, we're talking about the Africa tour and all that, you know, the continent has benefited.

You talked about the shea butter museum in Ghana, but it was also good for Isha Speed himself.

He got millions of views on his videos, even reaching the 50 million subscriber subscribers milestone.

How else did this tour benefit the streamer?

His career trajectory, when you watch his final sort of, you know, drop the mic moment and him kind of concluding the whole thing, he talked about it changing him fundamentally as a person, and

that is the power of traveling to the continent.

I think a lot of it is in the unspoken ways with which we accept visitors and people come here and feel at home.

But just to speak on the piece about his career trajectory and what it's done for him, specifically as a streamer, Africa has one of the biggest populations of young people in the world.

So for anybody who's looking to be a content creator, if you're not thinking about building content that speaks to an African audience, I think you're losing out.

Because at the end of the day, content is about visibility and it's about reach, and