The lights are finally off in the Big Brother Naija (BBN) house but the organisers may be smiling to the bank with an estimated N7.2 billion earned from votes alone.
The just-concluded fourth season of the reality TV show, Big Brother Naija “Pepper Dem”, attracted a total of 240 million votes, two times the number gathered from the previous “Double Wahala” season three show.
Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, host of the reality TV show, disclosed the total number of votes from the fourth season on Sunday when he crowned Mercy Eke the winner of this year’s season. She is the first female to win the grand prize since inception of the show.
According to the organisers, each vote cost N30. Going by BusinessDay analysis, with 240 million votes, the organisers of the show generated about N7.2 billion, 41.17 percent higher than the N5.1 billion obtained from the previous season.
The entertainment show which was rated 18 had four ways in which fans could vote to keep their favourite housemates from being evicted: through SMS, BBNaija website, BBNaija mobile site, and via DStv and GOtv apps.
“To vote via SMS, fans are expected to send the housemate’s name to 32052.
Each vote costs N30 and is limited to 100 votes per person,” the organisers of show had explained.
Obu-Uchendu said the show had 50 million votes cast in the last week of the show, 66.67 percent more than the 30 million votes gathered in the final week of the previous season.
Estimates by BusinessDay show that the total revenue generated from this year’s BBN show was over N10 billion. Apart from the earning from votes, one of the most viewed programmes in Africa had about 10 brands and sponsors paying for adverts for the three months the show lasted.
The winner of this year’s “Pepper Dem” season four clinched the prize money of N30 million cash, a brand new SUV worth N25 million, a trip for two, and household gadgets both worth N5 million.
This N60 million worth of prizes is N15 million higher than the N45 million presented to the last winner.
ENDURANCE OKAFOR
