'Big Brother Naija' Becomes the Most Watched Live Entertainment on Showmax

The fifth season of Big Brother Naija has been recorded as the most watched live stream content this year. Fans of the reality show have been quite vocal about their support for the show on social media and so the new record comes as no great surprise. The reality show, which is available on Multichoice's DStv, has received more viewership on Showmax across Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. While Nigeria accounts for fifty percent of the viewership; a third of the viewership is from South Africa and the rest of the viewership shared between Kenya Ghana, Namibia, Botswana and Uganda.

READ: Waje and Yemi Alade Return As Judges For The Third Season Of The Voice Nigeria

Big Brother Naija started in July of this year and provided entertaining stay-at-home content during lockdown. Over 30 thousand online applications were received in May. The novel coronavirus caused production studios, Mnet and Multichoice, to rethink the selection process resulting in live auditions being eliminated as an application criteria. Selected contestants were then tested for COVID-19 and underwent a two-week quarantine period before entering the infamous house.

While Showmax has not released specific statistics about the show's ratings, they reportedly said that the collective hours spent watching Big Brother Naija season equates to a whopping total of 30 years.

What makes Big Brother Naija a hit on Showmax are the extra features offered to viewers, catching up on behind the scenes that fans may have missed live and the coveted "Diary Room" voting sessions which are only available on Showmax. Sunday's record viewership was largely because of the live evictions which were highly anticipated among fans. Celebrity guests and live audiences usually draw high viewership rates for the live evictions but this feature is missing in BB Niaja's fifth season due to coronavirus. Despite this missing feature, Big Brother Naija shatters live streaming records.

Contestants are competing for a cash prize of approximately 200 thousand US dollars from 19 July 2020 to 27 September 2020. The last three contestants stand a chance to win through voting by the public.

Watch Big Brother Naija on Showmax.