Big Brother Naija: Lessons for Business Enthusiasts

For the next few weeks, Nigerians will stay glued to their televisions to watch and talk about the Big Brother Naija reality TV show.

The housemates would need to sell themselves in order to be the favourite housemates of their audience. And yes, Nigerians will rally around their favourite housemates.

One after the other, the housemates would be evicted, based on the votes cast for them by Nigerians. Like any other reality show out there, Big Brother Naija may hold lessons for us as business enthusiasts.

The reality show has successfully aired for five seasons since 2004. Regardless of its many challenges, it has lasted way more than many small businesses in Nigeria and has been more successful than most reality shows in Nigeria.

Given the few reality shows that succeed on local television, you’d assume Nigerians don’t like reality TV. Yet we’ve had Project Fame, Nigerian Idols, Gulder Ultimate Search, Maltina Dance All, and very recently, Love. How are they all doing?

So what’s behind the success of Big Brother Naija?

What business lessons can we learn from the BBN?

The BBN holds several lessons, especially to an entrepreneur. While you may find other lessons, for me the lessons that resonate most are:

1. In Business You Need The Right Partners To Succeed
2. Quality is key – You must know your target market and serve them quality

Big Brother Naija (BBN) formerly Big Big Brother Nigeria is a spin-off from Big Brother Africa. A good show that sadly ended in 2014 after airing its 9^th season. By the company’s official press release, they claimed sponsorship was the reason it closed, but I’m sure our prayer warriors and holier than thou opinion leaders would beg to differ.

Whatever your reservation on the moral conducts of BBN, no doubt you can agree that it is a show that requires a lot of money, creativity, and teamwork to be successful. But above all, there’s a deliberate systemic, strategic flow behind the show’s success.

Endemol and the Genius John De Mol Jr

I know the word genius gets thrown around a lot. But, what do you call the mind that created Big Brother and The Voice? Genius! There’s no other word for that. It’s simply awesome!

Of course, no great company succeeds by a single effort but John deserves the spotlight. This is why I say every business enthusiast or business owner could learn a dozen lessons to learn from John.

The company was originally founded as John De Mol Produkties in the Netherlands and in 1994 it became Endemol through a merger with Joop Van den Ende.

In 1997 John produced The Dutch version of Big Brother and The Voice.

In 2000 John sold his shares to Telefonica yet continued to serve as creative director until 2004 and founded Talpa Media Holding.

Remaining as creative director was a smart move because Talpa – later named Tien – would rank poorly on TV ratings leading to John selling off to RTL Netherlands but retaining some of its shares.

Another smart move if you’re following. As business enthusiasts, you have to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. I picked that up from some Hollywood film. Some type of gambling slang.

After jumping ship on Tien, John De Mol returned to Endemol in 2007 as a major shareholder together with Mediaset of Silvio Berlusconi.

In 2011 Endemol relaunched The Voice. This time it was a global success, giving Rise to several editions of The voice in other Countries.

Endemol was succeeded in 2015 by Endemol shine group growing into a Global force with 120 production companies operating in 20+ countries. That is huge!

Now if you’ve been following dates, you’d see that each merger made Endemol bigger and its shows grew popular with TV fans. I mean I’m stuck on some moments from the voice and Big Brother.

But honestly, Endemol has given us good content for years. From Big Brother to The Voice and Fear Factor, Love Letters, 1 vs 100, Deal or No Deal, Your Home Made Perfect. And many more.

68,000 hours of finished programming!

Yes! That is some success story.

Later as Endemol Shine Group, it created the Money drop, Peaky Blinders, Masterchef, Black Mirror, Humans, Grantchester, and Tin star.

It’s recent acquisition by Banijay on July 3, 2020 made grand records in the history of Business merger.

Deal or No deal!

I say deal already!

Content

I’m sure you heard the famous Bill Gates quote – content is King. Among Kings, Big Brother Naija has proven to become an empire. With its Fifth season underway, Twitter will never be normal. All types of debates would set the trend table on fire. With the Betway ambassadors keeping its fandom active.

You see when it comes to content, Big Brother delivers.

This is what has kept the audience- At least its Nigerian audience – actively engaged since it premiered as Big Brother Africa in 2000.

So what’s so special about the content that has never been seen on screen?

You’d think it’s the adult content. But sleazy shows turn people off. If you are on Nigerian Twitter, you know what I mean. The activist in union with the unpopular Nigerian mothers’ Whatsapp group would make sure such a show never sees the light of day.

But here we are. There’s already the Nengi vs Dorothy debate and this season has only begun.

In some way Big Brother Naija directly affects lives. That’s soft power and the show runners recognize this power.

Investors

As business enthusiasts, perhaps, and this is me taking a wild but obvious guess. One of the reasons the show has successfully found sponsors is the biding style that allows different businesses with multiple interest bid for ad placements in the show.

That’s one business lesson for show creators and business enthusiasts.

This is different from other shows as Gulder Ultimate search, Project fame, and oh who remembers You see the difference. The others are either owned by a Bank or a breweries company. Then they want to fund it all by themselves to advertise their own product thereby monopolizing the market. How has that worked so far? Which is why I worry for all these Bank owned online Film platforms.

Endemol recognizes its strength as an independent production company. It has a success record and has continued to build on it.

This is something content writers understand. If a post gets good engagement on one platform a smart content person takes it up and tweaks it for another platform. Same Content.

Over time you build a good record of success story. Enough to convince an investor.

Now you’d think it’s the adult content that attracts investors. Don’t do that, you’d never learn. First, you’ve thought yourself to believe a lie. Secondly, you’ve invariably stopped yourself from expecting a positive response from your investors just because you think people only invest in cheap thrills. Suddenly, you’d find yourself shifting from your true intent in a bid to score cheap points in advertising.

Unlike other TV shows, BBN doesn’t end when a brand cuts sponsorship. The show continues. MTN is written all over Project fame it almost isn’t project fame without the obvious sponsor. If I never told you, you’d never know the name Endemol or its new owner Banijay.

Funds appropriation

As someone who knows someone who knows someone that makes content for Nigerian TV, I’d tell you one thing – misappropriation of funds is the chief problem with many productions on our TV.

MONEY will never be enough but money can do more than we are letting it do as business people.

Read the article on finance tools for small businesses. It starts here.

I’ve seen filmmakers eat the funds for their production before production begins. In the long run, they start micromanaging just to complete the production. Very few Media houses in Nigeria run on proper structures. I said it.

It takes more than a registered business name to grow a company. Financial know how is key.

Lessons for Business Enthusiasts

Here’s a highlight of todays discuss; when you find a good product make sure it delivers on its promise.

Secondly,

Dey your dey.

Stop jumping on every trend if it doesn’t fit your business. Except your team is as good as the guys at Durex. They can turn anything to fit their brand.

Lastly, Finance.

Understand how to separate your personal money from your business. You see that popular debate amongst married people about husband’s money vs wives’ money, whose money should fund the home?

As a business owner you need to be very clear about whose money runs the business if you want to see your business grow.

Your money is the business money but the business money is not your money.

Once again.

Understand how to manage money using financial tools as discussed in this article.

BBN compulsorily created pairs- it’s part of the game but if you looked closer, you’d have seen that not all members of each pair have been particularly acting like they were part of a team. It is also no coincidence that the strongest teams were the most voted to remain in the house- MiNa and BamTeddy. Who’s your numero uno fan in your life who genuinely wants the best for you? Team up and do great things together.

Quick Summary

Prefer the short version? Here is a concise recap of the key ideas in this article.

Like any other reality show out there, Big Brother Naija may hold lessons for us as business enthusiasts. While you may find other lessons, for me the lessons that resonate most are: In Business You Need The Right Partners To SucceedQuality is key - You must know your target market and serve them quality Big Brother Naija (BBN) formerly Big Big Brother Nigeria is a spin-off from Big Brother Africa. As a business owner you need to be very clear about whose money runs the business if you want to see your business grow. Your money is the business money.