After 99 days of 24-hours live-action by 25 housemates, 13th set of evictions, one disqualification and 14 Sunday Live eviction show the curtains are drawn on the Big Brother Naija (BBN) season four show.
For the entire period that it lasted, the show dominated conversations on and offline among many Nigerians for whom BBN represented their aspirations and interests.
Now that the dust is settled, it is important that we measure the gains and the losses that have been made and what these mean for our unique clime. Let us start with-
The big winners
Multichoice
The biggest winners of this show are the organizer, Multichoice and co. I used the term “and co” because multichoice might not the only taker of the BBN booty. There is a list of technology enablers and consultants who will be smiling to the bank from the estimated N7.2 billion earned from votes alone.
The just-concluded “Pepper Dem” show attracted a total of 240 million votes, two times the number gathered from the previous “Double Wahala” edition.
We know this because Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, host of the reality TV show, disclosed the total number of votes on Sunday when he crowned Mercy Eke the winner. According to him, the show had 50 million votes cast in the last week of the show, 66.67 per cent more than the 30 million votes gathered in the final week of the previous season.
We also know that fans spent N30 each when they vote for housemates using the 32052 code, with a limit of 100 votes per person. With 240 million votes, analysts have estimated that the organisers of the should have generated about N7.2 billion, 41.17% higher than the N5.1 billion generated from the previous season.
N7.2 billion is definitely not the true sum because fans could vote through other channels aside from the SMS. These include the BBNaija website, BBNaija mobile site, and via DStv and GOtv apps.
If you calculated the other resultant revenue sources like DStv/Gotv subscriptions by viewers and decoder purchase, Businessday Newspaper estimated that the total revenue generated from this year’s BBN show was over N10 billion.
Talk about cashing out big!
Mercy
Next to the organizers, Mercy Eke is the next big winner here. The 26-year-old who is the first female winner since the inception of the show.
Mercy went home with a cheque of N30m. She also received an all-expense-paid trip to Dubai for two, a Sport Utility Vehicle from Innoson Motors (worth N25 million), a Scanfrost electronic makeover (worth N5 million), a year supply of Pepsi Cola, one year supply of Munchit ChinChin and Indomie noodles plus VIP tickets to watch the European Champions League final.
The other players got some fringe prizes along the way and the hope of rain of endorsements but the glamour and gifts that attended the winner can be best described as a winner take it all!
Mercy Eke happened to be the luckiest one.
Telcos
The telecommunication coys in Nigeria are perhaps the biggest winners in this contest. Neither of them sponsored the event yet they surely benefitted a percentage of the amount spent on the voting exercise.
Also, the much that was spent on recharge cards by voters translated to 100% gains for them. Money gained, none lost!
Advertisers and Sponsors
If you figured out that less than 50% of actual viewers of BBN are devoted fans of housemates that could burn their time and cash on the voting process, you should figure out that the actual views grossed by the show should be about 480 million in about 3 months!
The possibility of grossing that visibility using any other platform in Nigerian within the same period is very unlikely.
In fact, Bet9ja, on its part had more than brand visibility. The show featured live bets that polled in some revenue as well. In Nigeria, shows like BBN appeal to the majority. Hence, for brands that need mass appeal, it is a big kill.
Now, the Winners
MI Abaga
The story of the MI/Vector diss got to another at the BBN season 4 final Sunday Live eviction show when rap artiste, MI Abaga threw a sterling performance with loads of metaphors:
To make matters worse, MI has monetized his diss act by selling the #NoSnake shirt to fans:
DJS
Some Nigerian DJs and some others across the continent were invited to the popular Saturday night parties with the housemates.
The opportunity of performing before millions of Nigerians from one location and the money price is enough victory for them. These were a useful instrument for mobilizing emotional votes.
The same goes for the artistes that performed at the event.
The Recharge Cards cartel
Believe it or not, millions were spent on recharge cards distribution. Proud supporters of housemates shared recharge cards with friends and members of their “nations” to ensure that other people vote for their favourites.
To be sure, some people positioned themselves to be the sole beneficiaries of the recharge card largess. On the alter of BBN, many Twitter influencers were born!
And, the Losers
Nigerians
The biggest losers in this game are Nigerians.
Our biggest loss is the time spent on the show that spanned 24hrs for over 90 days. Opportunities were left unharnessed and some relationships suffered because many people spent invaluable time watching #BBNaija.
Amidst the recession, we sourced the resource to evict housemates, save housemates, power our generators, pay for subscriptions and even hold rallies for #BBNaija.
It is interesting when you realize that a lot of an average Nigerian is not better after all.
Millions went for the audition but the scripters had their own fit. Many were fooled! Millions voted- a sum that would not add a pinch to their common lives. Millions viewed- little did they know that they were the actual product…
Las Las
Despite our penchant for religion, we really love entertainment and we are willing to spend whatever it takes to pamper our emotions including blackmailing God.
Now that the hysteria is over, let us focus on how we can translate the energy spent on #BBNaija to some other things that will make our lives better.
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