Data Reveals Laycon, Erica, Nengi, Ozo And Kiddwaya As Most Popular Housemates Online
The Big Brother Naija Lockdown season has less than four weeks to go. In seven short weeks, the housemates have sparked up quite a bit of commentary and discourse on social media. Due to the fact that the show this year has held in the middle of a global pandemic and government lockdown order, this season saw a lot of first-time watchers. The show provided the audience with something to bond over, at a time when everyone was seeking comfort and connection.
The doors to the BBNaija house opened on July 19, 2020, and right off the bat, certain housemates were already getting talked about on social media. By the third day in the house, BBNaija conversations on social media were generating over 150,000 posts, with digital impressions of over 600 million according to data from ID Africa, a marketing, media and tech company. According to the report which measures online mentions of BBNaija and related keywords on social media, blogs and forums, the show hit its first billion mark in digital impression, on Friday, July 31st, just 13 days after its launch. It was at its next billion the next day, after the Saturday night party, which is historically a crowd puller.
The weekends are busy days for the housemates, as they have the Betway Arena and Trivia games on Friday, the parties on Saturday and the Sunday night eviction shows. The weekends also give the housemates a break from their tasks, and the opportunity to relax, get drunk and get loose. And probably make wrong decisions which they do quite frequently especially with the Truth or Dare games. It is also on the weekends that underlying tensions spill leading to fights and revelations.
Some of the chart topping housemates immediately upon entrance into the house were, Nengi, Lilo, Laycon, Erica, Dorathy, Ozo and Neo. It will be interesting to note that only four of these housemates – Laycon, Erica, Nengi and Ozo- are now constantly the most talked about housemates on social media according to ID Africa data.
The show also went from garnering an average of 739 million in digital impressions in its first eleven days, to doing an average of 953 million in its next eleven days.
BBNaija Lockdown hit its highest number, 1.6 billion in audience impressions, with over 380,000 posts, on Sunday, August 9, during the weekly eviction show. This was the second eviction this season, with Tochi and Eric leaving the house.
That night, Laycon, Erica, Lucy, Nengi and Ozo were the five most talked about housemates. Over 170,000 users were talking about Laycon, generating over 190,000 posts. Lucy had over 177,000 social media users talking, generating over 188,000 posts.
Conversations about Nengi made up over 179,000 posts, with 150,000 people talking. Erica had 150,000 people talking, generating 169,000 posts and Ozo generated 135,000 posts in social media conversations among 124,000 people.
BBNaija related keywords that trended include ‘bbnaijalockdown’, ‘bbnaija2020lockdown’, ‘Biggie’, a few brand hashtags also trended, ‘OppoxBBN’, ‘Guinness Smooth’, ‘Johnnie Walker’. Fan generated hashtags for their favourite housemates like, ‘dorathyaforce’, ‘freeErica’, ‘layconsicons’, ‘justiceforkiddwaya’, ‘stargirlerica’ etc, also trended.
On the first night of being in the house and generating buzz, Laycon’s Twitter following went from 1,500 on Sunday night to 20,000 on Monday morning. Less than two months into the show, his following on Twitter is over 160,000 and growing daily.
His EP, ‘Who is Laycon?’, which was not even on Apple Charts before he entered the house, ranked third on the chart, the morning after the Big Brother Lockdown launch.
The social media influence of housemates is also growing. Oppo Nigeria, one of the sponsors of BBNaija Lockdown, organized a Twitter contest for the housemates, inviting their fans to engage with the posts, with the incentive that the housemate with the highest engagement will become the next Oppo ambassador.
The fans went all out for their faves, creating hashtags and campaigning. Laycon’s post had the most engagement with over 44,000 likes and 33,000 retweets. Erica came closest with 18,000 likes and 12,000 retweets, Nengi had 12000 likes and 7,000 retweets, while Kiddwaya’s post had 13,000 likes and over 4,000 retweets, the rest of the gang lagged behind.
The activities, relationships, and clash of personalities of the housemates make for a lot of social media conversations. Rightfully so, as in only seven weeks, the housemates have experienced love, heartbreak, scorned affection, jealousy and several other emotions.
Early into the house, Erica and Laycon became fast friends, and spent a lot of time together. The dynamics of that friendship shifted in no time, as Kiddwaya and Erica started getting close and intimate. At this time, Laycon’s feelings for Erica grew beyond just platonic friendship. The complicated situation between Laycon, Erica and Kiddwaya will make for a lot of social media conversations.
Ozo and Nengi also become close early into the house, the circumstances here are a little different as Ozo pushes for a more definite status to their relationship while Nengi just wants to keep their friendship casual. The chemistry and tension between these two also create a lot of social media speculations.
An analysis of the first four weeks in the house shows the top five most talked about housemates as Erica, Laycon, Nengi, Ozo and Lucy. Kiddwaya comes close to snitching the fifth place from Lucy.
Both Laycon and Erica had 3 million posts created about them in the first four weeks in the house, Nengi recorded 2.5 million posts, Ozo 1.7 million and Lucy 1.4 million posts.
In four weeks, social media discussions and posts about the show had generated over 8 million posts from 3.8 million users, with potential media impressions of over 24 billion.
As the show, however, enters its eight week, dynamics have changed again, and other housemates have become popular as well. However, consistently appearing in the top five are Erica, Laycon, Nengi, Ozo and Kiddwaya, with Laycon and Erica going toe to toe for most talked about.
After their Saturday night party on September 5, all hell breaks loose, as Erica gives Laycon a piece of her mind. She accused him of being a liar for his claims that she tried to kiss him. She insists that she has no memory of this, and proceeds to spit vitriol at Laycon. The incidence gets very ugly, with insults and threats at Laycon and lashing out at other housemates that got in her way.
The five most talked about housemates on social media following the incident were Erica, Laycon, Nengi, Ozo and Dorathy. Erica had over 400,000 social media users talking, generating 473,000 posts. Laycon, who maintained his calm during the tirade, recorded 465,000 posts from 378,000 people.
141,000 users posted about Nengi 181,000 times, while Ozo had 88,000 people talking, generating 102,000 posts. Dorathy had 62,000 posts generated from 41,000 people.
BBNaija related conversations recorded 1.8 Billion in potential impressions following the incident.
On Sunday, September 6, following her third strike for flouting Big Brother’s house rules, Erica, who was the Head of House that week and therefore was immune from possible eviction, was disqualified from the competition.
Conversations around Erica reached a record high, generating over 890,000 posts across 788,000 users, while Laycon recorded 541,000 posts from over 480,000 users, Nengi, Ozo and Dorathy were also in the five most talked about housemates that night.
Nengi recorded 146,000 posts and had 129,000 people talking, while Ozo had 80,000 posts from 69,000 users. Dorathy recorded 50,000 posts from 40,000 people.
With only two weeks left this season of Big Brother, and a major competitor out the door, it is anyone’s game. At this critical stage in the game, with only a handful of housemates and 2 weeks left, any misstep may cost a housemate the win.
Some housemates, like Trikytee and Prince, have made it this far in the game without a significant social media following or being very popular, compared to other housemates, in online conversations. Do they have what it takes to make it to the finale and perhaps, even win the competition?
Some others, like Laycon, Ozo, Nengi, and Dorathy, have enjoyed significant social media following and fan support through the season. Does social media popularity, however, translate into votes for the housemates? Which is what will make all the difference in determining the eventual winner of the competition.
It will be interesting to see how the remaining days on the competition play out.
