BBNaija Money Trail: Unpacking The Cash In Africa’s Biggest Reality Show

"900 million votes!"

That massive figure sent the entire pop culture scene in Nigeria and a significant portion of the rest of Africa into a frenzy on Wednesday, 30th September, 2020.

However, most of the usual permutations and combinations that were triggered by that figure are probably the stuff of sloppy assumptions. But finally, here’s an actual rare peek under the hood.

Just three days before that Wednesday, the fifth and latest season of what is unarguably the biggest reality TV show in Africa, Big Brother Naija (BBNaija), had successfully aired its much-anticipated finale and crowned fan-favourite, Olamilekan “Laycon” Agbeleshe, as its latest winner.

And on that Wednesday, the showrunners, Multichoice Nigeria (the Nigerian subsidiary of Africa’s largest pay-TV operator, Multichoice Group), reeled off some staggering numbers at a scheduled media briefing that doubled as the official prize presentation ceremony.

The annual post-BBNaija “math-letics”

The folks at Multichoice Nigeria highlighted that despite the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a hugely successful BBNaija season.