Two Sundays ago, the beloved Nigerian TV reality show, Big Brother Naija, returned to captivate viewers again. Although a fan of the show, I must admit that I haven’t consistently followed it, except during the lockdown of 2020 when we were all confined indoors. However, like many others, I was eager to watch the premiere of the new all-star season, where various housemates from previous seasons would compete against each other for the star prize of N120 million.
Whether you are a viewer or not, the show, currently in its eighth season, has undoubtedly become a household name, particularly in Nigeria. And since it began in 2006, its influence has stretched well beyond the 200 million Nigerian citizens living within the country’s borders. BBN’s viewership extends to multiple African nations, including Ghana, Namibia, Kenya, Somalia, Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, South Africa, and many others. Its allure goes even further, captivating audiences from diverse continents across the globe.
In his article, David Adeleke draws an intriguing comparison between the reality show and the renowned Super Bowl, the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL) and the most-watched television event in the United States. He noted that “…when a game show receives 915 million votes from an audience of 309 million (according to DSTV Media Sales figures) spread across the continent during a global pandemic and an impending economic recession, it is worth paying attention to. The Super Bowl is the most-watched single station broadcast in US history, and its record viewership came in 2015 with an average of 114.4 million viewers.”
It is this social wealth and growing influence that has made it highly desirable for numerous brands to collaborate with. Headlining the show has proven to be a massive marketing strategy for certain companies. Little wonder brands pay a fortune to be a sponsor of the show. In the 2021 BBN6 ‘Shine yah eyes” season, Abeg Technology and Patricia reportedly paid $2 million each to be the associate sponsor. From Payport in the early years of the show to Piggyvest last year, brands and companies have consistently shown keen interest in sponsoring the program due to the exposure and mileage it offers. Now, Moniepoint, a leading African fintech platform that serves 1.3 million businesses is presently its headline sponsor.
If history is anything to go by, it is expected that this would have a groundbreaking effect on their market reach. But to not just throw words around let us see look into the performance of previous sponsors of the show.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Flutterwave sponsored BBNaija season 5. Before its partnership with the TV show, Flutterwave had processed 107 million transactions amounting to $5.4 billion when it raised its Series B funding. However, just a few months later, the numbers soared significantly. The company reported handling over 140 million transactions, totalling over $9 billion with over 290,000 businesses using its platform to make payments.
Also, when Abeg first sponsored BBNaija during its sixth edition in 2021, it reportedly grew its users from 20,000 to over 1.8 million, amid a 700 per cent increase due to the sponsorship. In 2022, the brand returned as a sponsor based on the substantial return on investment it experienced during its initial sponsorship. Now that Moniepoint is on this path, it is positioning itself to elevate its brand and increase its market presence. And this would likely result in explosive figures at the end of the season.
Moniepoint, formerly TeamApt, has been in existence since 2015 but wasn’t as popular as it is now. When the fintech platform started that year it was primarily building digital financial solutions for many of Nigeria’s commercial banks. By 2018, it was already eyeing Nigeria’s consumer section, where experts believe more than 90% of transactions are conducted using cash. Moniepoint was born in 2019 to provide users with financial services such as payments, cash withdrawals, and deposits. In a LinkedIn post in November 2022, CEO and Founder, Eniolorunda shared that Moniepoint was processing transactions worth $10 billion for more than 400,000 businesses monthly.
Fortunately for the platform, the Naira cash crunch which threatened the country’s informal economy early this year propelled it to unprecedented success. Now Moniepoint MFB operates the largest distribution network for financial services in Nigeria, and over 21 million people use their cards on POS terminals monthly across every local government in Nigeria. In May, it announced that it processed about $43 billion in transactions in the first three months of the year and saw about 500,000 app downloads, among other milestones. The company said it was able to process 1 billion transactions in the period under review, a tremendous growth considering it took it about three quarters to reach those numbers in 2022.
This already puts it on the track to accelerated growth. While it’s difficult to quantify the percentage increase that Moniepoint may encounter by headlining the BBN, it promises a considerable and meaningful influence. Back in 2021, Moniepoint hinted at its ambitions to extend its presence across West Africa. Headlining the renowned BBN represents a surefire strategy to grow even beyond and surpass milestones previously achieved. Big Brother Nigeria has a vast international viewership base. And as Moniepoint is exposed to this global audience, it opens up opportunities for potential expansion, enabling the company to venture into other African markets and potentially even on an international level.
In the meantime (2+ months), let us immerse ourselves in the delightful banter, support, and trends that come with having a favourite housemate in the Big Brother house. On the business front, we eagerly await the success stories of companies that have sponsored the show. May the best man win.
