The Big Brother Naija franchise is not owned by a particular individual or company but Multichoice Nigeria is reportedly one of the organizers. The reality show has many sponsors but the major ones are Payporte, Betway Nigeria, Abeg, and Patricia.
In recent times, the very popular Big Brother Naija (BBN) reality television show has proven to be a unifying factor in Nigeria. While opinions might differ in supporting different contestants, the viewers’ love for the show is never waning. BBN is quite popular with the youth who use it as a way to escape their realities. As a result, it has cultivated cult-like followership. Fans of the show have sometimes taken their love for their preferred contestant way beyond the show and continue to support them even after they are out. This is why many people clamor to become a participant because of the show’s life-changing potential.
Ownership and History Of The Franchise
According to information available in the public space, the Big Brother Naija reality television show isn’t owned by a particular individual but by a company. Multichoice Nigeria which serves as the organizer of the show is reported to also be its owner.
Big Brother Naija is based on the Dutch Big Brother television franchise that was created by John de Mol Jr. and was first aired in the Netherlands in 1999. As of September 2019, there have been more than 448 seasons of Big Brother in over 54 franchise regions and countries. Big Brother Naija remains the only English-speaking edition that still follows the original international format with public-voted evictions.
Big Brother Naija Operates Exactly Like the Regular Big Brother Show
Just like its “Big Brother,” contestants in BBN are brought together to live in an isolated house for a specified number of days. They then compete for a large cash prize and other material prizes, which they will get at the end of the show. All they need to do is to avoid being evicted from the house by viewers who vote for their favorite housemates to remain in the show.
How The Show Works
In the Big Brother Naija reality television show, a group of people who have gone through auditions and a series of screenings are isolated from the outside world and brought to live together in a large house. There are cameras in every inch of the house, and these contestants are continuously watched. The housemates are expected to live together for a specified time in this peculiarly constructed house without any contact with the outside world.
Contestants are also not allowed to carry any electronic gadgets into the house. Even though they have daily tasks which they must complete, they are basically left to their own vices to interact with. With lots of time on their hands and little or nothing to do, tempers are bound to fly, and these people are always bound to look for ways to keep themselves occupied. The drama that unfolds is what keeps Nigerians both home and abroad, young and old, glued to their screen 24/7.
While Big Brother Naija is packed with many activities, including group tasks and parties, the show has drawn criticism for its airing of occasional raunchy episodes. As friends and enemies are made in the house, each housemate is aware of the end game, which is to be the last person standing to win the grand prize. The cameras follow every activity of the housemates as they go through various trials and tribulations. Big Brother’s eye is used in the logo, which signifies that he is always watching.
As the show progresses, housemates are required to nominate their fellow housemates every week for eviction. The housemates with the most votes are announced, and the audience is then invited to vote on who to keep. Thereafter, the housemate with the least number of votes will be evicted in a weekly eviction show on Sunday evenings. This is the general pattern until the last person standing is declared the winner.
Big Brother Naija Sponsorship and How It Has Evolved Over The Years
Year in, and year out, Big Brother Naija has been able to draw out big names across several industries to sponsor the show. According to research, sponsorship of the show can run into billions of naira, so the question on everyone’s lip is; is it worth it? and what is the return on investment like.
Before delving into all the benefits that might accrue to the show’s sponsors, let’s begin with the organizers. From all indications, MultiChoice makes a whole lot of money off the Big Brother Naija show. Asides from the fact that they enjoy significant growth in user subscription rates during every BBNaija season, there is also an increase in the number of new subscribers on their platform when the show airs. In addition, the company also records more user viewing time during the BBNaija period as more users subscribe and stay glued to the BBNaija station.
MultiChoice also records more revenue through their different value-added services (VAS) and sells more DStv decoders. However, when it comes to voting, this is definitely where MultiChoice has made the most money. Even though there are other ways to vote, voting by SMS has always been the principal means to vote, which cost ₦30 per vote. Just for the sake of emphasis and illustration, Ebuka (the show’s host) announced during the 2019 final live eviction show that the vote for that week was over 11 million.
At ₦30 per vote, eleven million votes amount to ₦330 million in just one week out of the eleven weeks that Big Brother Naija ran for that year. Even though telecommunication companies take seventy percent of the revenue generated on SMS shortcode services, that still leaves about ₦99 m for Multichoice. However, this amount could be higher depending on the revenue share agreement between the telcos and Multichoice.
It is pertinent to point out again that this figure reflects just one week of voting, and the total prize money for the winner is only ₦25 m. Moreover, at the end of that 2019 season, the show polled more than 240 million votes, with 50 million votes from the finale week alone. These numbers show the penetration and influence of the show. A company can decide to be a Big Brother Naija sponsor for several reasons, ranging from brand visibility to reaching new customers, amongst others.
Smart brands will prefer to be BBNAIJA sponsors due to the numerous opportunities their brand can leverage, which goes beyond traditional advert. Asides from being able to reach the youth; who are valuable consumers because they influence the purchasing decisions of their family and friends, a company that is sponsoring the show also has the opportunity to be a part of the house through different tasks, games, and parties which provides them a seamless integration into the show. This is an extra value that can’t be gotten with just an advert.
List Of Big Brother Naija Sponsors
The Big Brother Naija reality show has scored big when it comes to getting sponsors for the show. The show has evolved over the years, especially in terms of exposure, which has been beneficial to its major sponsors. For the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Payporte was their major sponsor. In 2019, Betway Nigeria (Bet9ja) was said to have invested N1.08 billion in replacing Payporte as the show’s headline sponsor. Abeg and Patricia have since been announced as the sponsors for the 2021 season.
Aside from these major sponsors, several other companies partner with the Big Brother Naija show by organizing sponsored games and tasks to award the winners either with gift items, money, or ambassadorship. Some of these sponsors include:
- Guinness Nigeria (Gold Sponsor)
- Revolution Plus
- Pepsi
- Scanfrost
- Tolaram group
- Airtel
- Darling expression
- Knorr
- Indomie
- One Africa
- Dano
- Oppo Mobile
- Minimie
- Heritage Bank
- Nokia
- Legend Stout
- Innoson Vehicles
- Lipton Ice Tea
- Alar
- Munch it
- Close up, amidst several others.
The Show Is An Investment Treasure Trove
Some might wonder why companies invest huge amounts of money in sponsoring a show like Big Brother Naija. The question for past sponsors would definitely be, was it worth it? From all indications, the Big Brother Naija show is a big deal in the entertainment industry, and all of their major sponsors seem to have met and exceeded their target for partnering with the show.
For Payporte, who was the first major sponsor of the show, partnering with Big Brother Naija brought about a high level of awareness for eCommerce, which can’t be dismissed. Before Payporte partnered with Big Brother Naija, not many people could claim to know much about them or have shopped on Payporte. But all that changed soon after they partnered with the show.
Moreover, at every live eviction show which holds on Sunday, the host will always mention thanks to “Payporte, your preferred online store.” Payporte was mentioned at every of the Big Brother Naija episode that aired when they were sponsors. They do this for every of their major sponsor, which is quite strategic. Aside from the several advertisements they put up during the show, Payporte also organized games for the housemates during weekdays. They present free shopping vouchers as prizes for some games. This in itself created more awareness about what they actually do.
According to PayPorte CEO Eyo Bassey, after they became the major sponsor of Big Brother Naija 2017, orders on their platform skyrocketed. He also shared that they were basically struggling to fulfill orders as the surge was high, and their platform was designed to only process 5,000 orders daily. He further reiterated that if the show had gone on for 6 months, PayPorte might have hit a breakpoint and could not deliver. That is really phenomenal.
When Bet9ja suddenly withdrew from the Nigeria National League and veered into an unconventional territory to sponsor Big Brother Naija, they raised many eyebrows and questions. Another reason this partnership came as a surprise to people was that according to research, more than 82% of active betters in Nigeria are sports or football fans. The Big Brother Naija show, known to capture the interest of the socialites and youths of pop culture with 62% female viewership, doesn’t seem like a good fit for Bet9ja, but they had their reasons.
From what was deduced, the sponsorship goal and objective was to reach new customers, especially the market segment that had been latent. In addition, they wanted to reach people of pop culture who have been overlooked by the betting industry. Their objective was to increase awareness of their brand by 35% and increase patronage by 10% among the socialites aged between 17 and 50 in the Nigerian metropolitan area. From what was reported after their first year of sponsorship, all their targets were met and exceeded.
For the sixth season of the show, which is slated to hold later in 2021, MultiChoice Nigeria has revealed that the indigenous mobile app “Abeg” is the Headline Sponsor. Abeg was launched in September 2020, and it is a peer-to-peer social payment platform that enables users to request, send, and receive money quickly. It also allows them to pay seamlessly for goods and services. Piggytech Global Limited, a leading financial technology company, designed the mobile app.
All The Big Brother Naija Seasons
Big Brother Naija, which started in March 2006, has become the biggest reality show out of Nigeria. Even though there have been some controversies surrounding the show, including the fact that it was not being hosted in Nigeria but South Africa initially, the organizers seem to have found a way around that and have even hosted the last two seasons in Nigeria. The show has held 5 successful seasons, with the 6th scheduled to hold later in 2021.
Big Brother Naija Season 1 (2006)
- Start Date: March 5, 2006
- End Date: June 4, 2006
- Duration: 92 days
- House Venue: Nigeria
- Number of Contestants: 20
- Host(s): Olisa Adibua and Michelle Dede
- Prize Amount: $100,000
Big Brother Naija Season 2 (2017) “See Gobbe”
- Start Date: January 22, 2017
- End Date: April 9, 2017
- Duration: 78 days
- House Venue: South Africa
- Number of Contestants: 14
- Host: Ebuka Obi-Uchendu
- Prize Amount: ₦25 million worth of prizes
Big Brother Naija Season 3 (2018) “Double Wahala”
- Start Date: January 28, 2018
- End Date: April 22, 2018
- Duration: 85 days
- House Venue: South Africa
- Number of Contestants: 20
- Host: Ebuka Obi-Uchendu
- Prize Amount: ₦45 million worth of prizes
Big Brother Naija Season 4 (2019) “Pepper Dem”
- Start Date: June 30, 2019
- End Date: October 6, 2019
- Duration: 90 days
- House Venue: Nigeria
- Number of Contestants: 26
- Host: Ebuka Obi-Uchendu
- Prize Amount: ₦60 million worth of prizes
Big Brother Naija Season 5 (2020) “Lockdown”
- Start Date: July 19, 2020
- End Date: September 27, 2020
- Duration: 71 days
- House Venue: Nigeria
- Number of Contestants: 20
- Host: Ebuka Obi-Uchendu
- Prize Amount: ₦85 million worth of prizes
Big Brother Naija Winners
The Big Brother Naija reality TV show has seen people from all over the country and all spheres of life vying to have a space in the coveted Big Brother house. For some of these successful housemates, BBN goes beyond entertainment as it becomes a means to an end.
In all sincerity, the platform has served as a springboard to a prolific career in the entertainment industry for many of the ex-housemates. Ironically, both the winners and other contestants have enjoyed the visibility that Big Brother Naija provides, especially those who have been proactive.
While a couple of the housemates have gone ahead to become celebrity entrepreneurs who continue to bask in the euphoria of Stardom which Big Brother has given them, some have chosen to float their private businesses and withdraw from public glare. Either way, Big Brother Naija is a win-win situation for each of the housemates.
Here is a list of the winners according to the seasons.
- Season 1 Winner: Katung Aduwak
- Season 2 Winner: Micheal Efe Ejeba
- Season 3 Winner: Miracle Ikechukwu Igbokwe
- Season 4 Winner: Mercy Eke
- Season 5 Winner: Olamilekan Agbeleshe “Laycon”