Bet9ja sudden withdrawal from Nigeria National League (NNL) and veered into what seems to be an unconventional territory, with the sponsorship of the most popular tv reality show, big brother Naija (BBN) raised a lot of questions. Then ''lets wait and see" attitude from competitors and other bookmakers around the world.
Since well known research findings have stated that over 82% of active bettors in Nigeria are football fans or perhaps say, sports fans in general. Then veering into partnership with BBN, which captures more interest of the socialites, people of the pop culture with 62% female viewership was a bit weird. Bet9ja invested N1.08 billion Naira to replace Payporte as headline sponsor of Big Brother Naija in 2019.
But did Bet9ja association with BBN pay-off? Was it a wise investment for Bet9ja to sponsor BBN Season4 with such a huge sum?
The sponsorship goal and objective, as we deduced, were as follows:
The goal of Bet9ja sponsorship was to reach new customers, the segment of the market that has been latent. People of the pop culture which have been largely overlooked by the betting industry. And to associate with the program they love so much on tv was perhaps the best way to capture their attention.
The objective of Bet9ja is to increase awareness of the brand by 35% and increase patronage by 10% among the socialites aged between 17 and 50 in Nigerian metropolitan area in the next one year.
These are what we found out:
92% of 10,000 male socialites within the age range (17 to 50) and who said they followed BBN Season4 regularly, were aware Bet9ja was the headline sponsor of the tv reality show. And 82% of them have a clear knowledge of what Bet9ja products are, 25% agree that they already patronize the brand before..
Perhaps, more amazing was that 77% of 8,000 female socialites within the same age range and who said they followed BBN Season4 closely, were aware Bet9ja sponsored the tv reality show last year. 4% said they sporadically bet on soccer and horse race... and 13% said they don't understand how to play but are ready to learn.
Then, 6% said they are willing to discreetly play on their mobile device and prefer to get their win paid directly to their bank account, without them going to Bet9ja outlets within their area.
I guess it is a huge success for Bet9ja first year sponsorship of BBN or what do you think.
