Revealed: How MultiChoice spent over N3bn to produce BBNaija lockdown edition
Sources close to organisers of Big Brother Naija have revealed that the comprehensive cost of producing the show is a whopping N3.2 billion. This figure does not include the grand prize worth N85 million that the eventual winner will take home, and it also excludes investments made by sponsors and other promotional and marketing expenses.
The Big Brother Naija show is a reality show where about 20 contestants are made to live under 24-hour surveillance in an undisclosed location in Lagos, Nigeria for three months. Every week, housemates with the lowest votes from viewers are evicted, and at the end of the day, the housemate with the highest votes wins the show, taking home cash, mouth watering prizes, as well as new-found fame and highly valuable celebrity status.
The show airs in 49 African countries via MultiChoice’s DStv and GOtv platforms, and has become the most popular reality TV show in Africa since it first aired in 2006, currently reaching a total TV audience of 40 million.
Although many have tried to analyse the sponsorship gain that could be derived from a show with such popularity and large followership, not many have considered how much capital it would require to set up and produce such a world class show.
However, it has been revealed that setting up the Big Brother Naija house alone costs as much as N2.5 billion. This includes the costs of constructing the house, fittings and furnishings that give the show its iconic look, security, safety, and other needs.
Sources close to the media powerhouse have also disclosed that the 2020 edition of the show is being run on an estimated N1 billion production budget. This covers production equipment, salaries of the over 370 strong production crew, among other things.
In an Accenture report published earlier in the year, MultiChoice Nigeria’s economic contribution to Nigeria was estimated at N634 billion over the past five years. The company was also reported to have created over 12,000 employment opportunities for Nigerians during the same period.
