By Bolarinwa Akande
Ahead of this year’s edition of popular social reality show, Big Brother Africa scheduled to kicks off live on Sunday 7 September and on DStv channels 197 and 198, organisers have emphasised the social media platform as a vehicle that has aided fans’ interaction with contestants on the show.
“As a voter driven show, the success of the Big Brother Africa brand relies heavily on audience engagement and our social media platforms allow for this to happen in real-time”, says M-Net Africa Regional Director (West Africa) Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu.
Every year, fans across the continent sit eagerly glued to their screens, social media abuzz; they wait tensely to be thrilled and dazzled by their favourite Big Brother Africa housemates.
As the shows fan-base grows, so does the conversation on the social networks. During the 8th season, over 6 million fans interacted with Big Brother Africa via the Website, Twitter, and Facebook, with the website generating just over 200 million impressions.
Mba-Uzoukwu added that because of Big Brother Africa’s growing success on social media, it is important for the brand to continuously explore other platforms, “Every year, we expand the ways audiences interact and enjoy more premium entertainment. This year, even more people will be able to partake in the thrill of Big Brother via their mobile devices and on different platforms. The addition of Instagram, for instance, brings yet another exciting dimension and we look forward to sharing more entertaining content with our fans.”
One person who knows all too well about the power that social media has, is season 8 winner, Dillish Matthews who has established a fan base of over 200 000 across Facebook and twitter “I never dreamt of such a big following and it keeps increasing, which is a great advantage for my career as a personality and model. As the countdown begins, I can’t help but reminisce about some of my most memorable moments in the Big Brother house. Good luck to the new housemates and I hope they enjoy the adventure.”
With auditions well underway across the 14 participating countries, this year’s season promises to impress with more drama, romance, intrigue and suspense.
Endemol MD Sivan Pillay says this is going to be the most exciting season yet. “We have been producing the series since 2003 and to keep fans captivated, we have to evolve and this entails finding housemates with a little extra talent and swagger”.