2020 Big Brother Naija: A Sports League with a Touch of Excellence

It has become a norm that after every edition of the Big Brother Nigeria (#BBN) show, a reality show that puts more than a dozen strangers in the same house with no contact with the outside world for 71 days, there is an outcry among the general population. Some people are genuinely happy for the winner (if their preferred housemate wins), some are surprised at the level of engagement among Nigerians, some constantly remind us of their lack of interest in the entire charade, and the usual suspects – some blame the Nation’s entire problems on the “lazy” youth who invest their time, energy and resources in the TV programme instead of engaging in discussions around national issues. It is always a delight reading #BBN Facebook posts and tweets especially toward the end of the show.

A particular set of people who caught my attention this year are sports fans who think sports competitions deserve the attention and more importantly, the corporate sponsorships enjoyed by the show. Perhaps, they believe sports serve a better purpose and deliver better value. Interestingly, the more I think about the Big Brother Naija show, the more I see the similarities between the show and a regular sports league. Due to these similarities, we can argue that the show serves the same purpose and delivers value just like any sports league in the country. The only difference – Big Brother Naija is better organised.

Let me explain!!!

1.      Participating Teams – Just like a sports league features participating teams, 20 people participated in the 2020 edition of #BBN (the number varies yearly, it was 21 last year). Qualifying tournaments are in form of auditioning and selection while the draws are replaced with the official announcement of housemates. The housemates become the center of attention, they become news items. They gradually become popular and their fan base increases. Based on their respective performance in the house, some housemates become more popular than others. Either through a league or competition format, a champion emerges at the end of a sports league season. Likewise in #BBN where the housemate with the highest number of votes wins.

2.      Coopetition – Coopetition is a term used often by academia to describe the simultaneous relationship among teams in a sports league. It is a perfect mix of cooperation and competition. While teams compete against each other for on-field (trophy) and off-field (sponsors, fans, and partners) success, they must also collaborate in some activities such as marketing TV rights, player transfers, and loans, etc. to ensure they deliver value. In the #BBN show, collaboration comes in form of weekly group tasks, friendships created, Deputy Head of House nominations, even romantic relationships. This does not take away the fact that housemates nominate one another for eviction as they all work individually towards winning the competition.

3.      Premium Content – As we say in sport, content is king. Sports leagues with global success have embodied the mantra, making sure that premium content is created and delivered to the respective audience. Pre-game analysis, matchday shows, game highlights, and players’ and coaches’ postgame interviews are some of the contents that keep league fans engaged. The #BBN is a 71-day non-stop content creation and delivery platform. From practice to the execution of tasks, to conversations in the Diary Sessions, to Saturday parties which all culminate into the Eviction Show on Sundays, fans of the show have a wide range of content to choose from. The abundance of content on the show keeps the audience engaged throughout the period the show is aired. And just like a sports league, these contents and the viewership makes the show idea for corporate sponsorship/partnership. 

4.      Fan Engagement – No only are the #BBN fans engaged through various content, the engagement is monetized by the organisers through the weekly voting to save favourite housemates from eviction and to decide the overall winner of the competition. According to reports, over 900million votes were cast during the 2020 season of the show, a significant rise from the 240million and 170millions votes recorded in 2019 and 2018 respectively. It is the highest number in the history of the show. At N30 per SMS, revenue from voting is estimated at N27bn.

Sports leagues also monetize fan engagements from ticket sales, concessions, and merchandise. English Premier League teams make tens of millions of pounds from matchday revenue. Arsenal has made an average of ￡100m as match day revenue annually since 2014. For some sports clubs, non-broadcast revenue contributes as much as 30% of their total turnover.

5.      Stardom for players – Prior to entering into the competition, most of the housemates have any form of fame or popularity. The show gives them a platform to gain mass appeal and build a fan base which they leverage upon after the show for brand endorsement, entertainment gigs, etc. The 2020 winner, Olamilekan “Laycon” Agbeleshe hit 1m followers on Instagram and Twitter while he was still in the house. From a similar perspective, leagues and respective participating clubs provide a platform for athletes to become social media icons based on their on-field performance and off-field charm.

While acknowledging the attributes of sports leagues especially the physical nature and skill requirements that distinguish them from a reality competition like the Big Brother show, the reason for the comparison is to highlight the key success factors of a sports league and consider the success of the #BBN show from that perspective. The incredible success of the show should not come as a surprise to us, and as long as the organisers continue to deliver sports-like factors, the show can only get better.

For sports fans who argue that sports brands such as BetWay should sponsor sports events in Nigeria rather than a reality show, perhaps these brands see the sporting attributes in the show that our sports leagues have failed to deliver. So rather than condemn it, our sports administration should learn what strategic content management, fan engagement, and value delivery to corporate partner mean from the show.

For people who blame the “lazy” youth for spending too much time watching the show rather than discussing national issues, well, tough luck. That’s entertainment!!! People all around the world naturally gravitate towards it. I’d suggest that advocacy groups can partner with the organisers to use their platform to reach and pass their respective national development messages across to the million viewers. The WNBA and NBA have used their respective platforms to promote social justice issues such as the Black Lives Matter and have asked people to register to vote. The #BBN show will not go away, we might as well make the best use of it.

In line with the National Sports Reform Agenda, I have decided to constantly ask, “What do you see?” Studying the success of the Big Brother Naija show, I see a template that can be adopted and replicated by serious sports administrators who want to their leagues to grow significantly, I see that people will spend their money on what they love regardless of how other people feel about their choices, and I see that entertainment spend remains a priority for consumers unaffected by economic reality as long as there are product packages for different categories of fans.

Sports leagues, your turn.

And yeah, congrats to the 2020 #BBN winner - of Lay Lay Lay, of Laycon!!!