I came across this article online that says big brother Nigeria is currently the most-watched Reality show in Africa and the most successful big brother franchise.
I'm not a fan of big brother myself but there is a secret behind this show, how has it been able to capture the mind of a lot of people
A lot of people don't know how it started
Where it started from
Or the history behind it
They don't even know who founded it
So I went on a little search escapade, and this is what I got. So first of what is big brother, it is a reality show which in a number of people usually called housemate and puts them in a house with a 24/7 surveillance camera and the housemates competes for a prize which is usually hundreds of thousands of dollars, they have thus guy called the big brother which gives them a task and directs them on what to do and all of this is streamed to the audiences in the comfort of their homes.
The word BigBrother is derived from the book 1984 by George Orwell it follows the life of a guy named Winston smith is a low ranking member of a party who is frustrated by the omnipresent eyes of the party and its ominous ruler called the big brother in this book big brother controls the life of different people. just like the way The US sometimes is called the big brother.
The Big brother show was created by a Dutchman called john de mol Jr, he is a media tycoon and Dutch billionaire he is also known to be the creator of the fear factor and the voice, the first broadcast of big brother was in the Netherlands then it was later shared internationally to different countries and then this countries came up with their own formats like a franchise that why the Nigerian version as the influence of the Nigerian culture like the music, food snacks and even the dressing.
The first season of big brother Naija was aired in 2006 then they went on an 11yr break probably because the market wasn't ready then, but they came back for the second season in 2017 but within that period they were on break in Nigeria, there was the big brother Africa which gets housemates from different African countries, but eventually big brother Naija came and took over and it has been very successful ever since because every year it keeps increasing in the number of audiences it gets which is a good thing because it sells the Nigerian culture to the world.
So the housemates are selected on criteria the company wants, the company picks interesting candidate and put them to live in a house for 10weeks and compete to be the last man standing during the period they stay in this house they always engage in games and activities and then on Sundays somebody leaves the house or is (EVICTED).
How does big brother make money? They do this by selling ATTENTION!!
The attention and time we use to watch this show, brand and companies pay for this attention to put their product Infront of our eyes. It has been said that companies pay as much as $2million to 3.5$ just to be exclusive sponsors of the show, they also make money when you vote, It was estimated that Nigerians spent as much as $8million a month on votes.
So how did BigBrother spread like fire?
1, the higher percentage of people that watch the show are young Nigerians (the millennials) and generally, Nigerians are the most populated country in Africa and the 7th in the world
2, the support Nigerians love everything Nigerian as much as they complain about their country they also love it and support it.
3, rapid internet penetration, Nigerians currently account for 30% percent of the African data usage.
This is why a user can not escape without seeing a single big brother post on Twitter or other social media networks.
4, we love watching people compete for stuff, I mean humans generally love competing, that why we love watching sports the Olympics and so on.
the viewers of big brother Nigeria are the people who make them keep winning
So take away from this article is big brother good or bad? because people always complain about it.
I personally think it's interesting to live in a world where people can create content and have that content spread all over Africa and the world generally, it is also beautiful to think that you could join a show which would give you the opportunity and marketing to jump-start your career as long as you have a skill.
Many people that came out of big brother Nigeria became popular musicians and actors fitness moguls and so on which was not possible a few years back
So this concludes my thoughts on the big brother show
So guys I want you guys to help me by leaving a comment and sharing your thoughts on the big brother Naija show.
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THANK YOU.
