MTN Y’ello Star and The Voice stage return but can music talent hunts catch up with reality shows?

There has been no music talent event in the country for the past three years, a period which coincides with the exponential rise of reality shows. Even though music shows are planning to resume airing, it remains to be seen if they can have the kind of sway, recent reality events have had.

For the past three months, conversations across physical and virtual spaces have been dominated by no other event than #BBNaija, the Lockdown edition. The show premiered in 2006 but could only return eleven years after the maiden edition. In between the hiatus, Big Brother Africa continued and enjoyed attention all over the continent, before the Naija edition returned in 2017.

Since 2017, the popular reality TV show has gone from strength to strength, with 25 million cash prize and a car rising to become 85 million naira worth of prizes in the most recent edition. It was also reported by that the show had over 900 million votes across all platforms from viewers and supporters alike, indicating the huge following the show enjoyed this year. Projections from culture analysts suggest that the show’s audience will still continue to grow.

Although affected by the lockdown, Ultimate Love is another reality show which commanded significant following before it was brought to an end earlier than planned. Given that this year’s is the debut, the show’s organisers will be confident of attracting a larger audience.

READ ALSO: The Voice is set to fill the void for Nigerian Reality TV | N100m in rewards for fans and talents

For shows which border on discovery and promotion of musical talents, much action has not been recorded on their side. Regarded to be the most popular, Project Fame West Africa commenced in 2008, ran for 9 seasons before coming to a halt four years ago after MTN pulled the plug on it. Even though the show’s alumni list consists of music acts such Iyanya, Chidinma, Praiz and Olawale, opinions were raised about the sustainability of the show’s participants in the music industry.

Idol Series saw to the instigation of Idols West Africa and Nigerian Idol but neither lasted beyond 2013 despite being a launch pad for the likes of Timi Dakolo and Omawumi Megbele, The Voice Nigeria aired for two seasons as well before activities were brought to a standstill in 2017.

The Voice has announced plans to return to the screens, as well as MTN Y’ello Star. MTN Y’ello Star further announced plans to go virtual for auditions but the present reality is that they will likely struggle to catch up with reality shows.

The long break from production will not have helped as it remains to be seen whether music shows will enjoy the staunch support the like of BBNaija currently enjoys. At best, many will see the talent programmes as void fillers while the newest brand influencers in town ride enjoy the breeze of popularity before another edition sets in.

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