Big Brother has reached its 20th birthday, with Endemol Shine celebrating the major milestone by hailing one of the format’s “best years yet”.
Exactly twenty years ago today, on 16th September 1999, Big Brother made its worldwide debut when the very first episode was broadcast in its production firm’s homeland, the Netherlands.
The show proved an instant hit with Dutch viewers, and quickly became a television phenomenon as it began travelling the globe.
Big Brother is credited with creating the modern reality TV genre and popularising many now common innovations in broadcasting, such as continuous live feeds and public voting.
In the two decades since, 60 adaptations have been made in 80 territories, with 7,153 housemates spending 35,143 days in the house across 471 series.
Endemol Shine claims the show has a global viewership of 2billion people – over a quarter of the Earth’s population.
To mark the special occasion, Endemol has created an anniversary edition of Big Brother’s new generic eye logo. The design, pictured above, features a variety of intersecting patterns in bright colours.
The company has also been posting clips of significant Big Brother moments on its social channels and the Big Brother Universe YouTube page, while encouraging fans to use the hashtag #BB20.
After the UK version – often seen as a cornerstone of the brand – was dropped by Channel 5, this year is the first that it has been off our screens since it began.
However, Big Brother is still going strongly around the globe. Endemol says 2019 is one of its “best years yet”, with 22 versions on air – including two key revivals.
Poland’s comeback in March was so successful that broadcaster TVN immediately ordered another series for this year, which started last week. Meanwhile, Finland’s first series since 2014 launched with a 37% audience share.
Other long-running editions continue to perform well, with CBS recently renewing the US version for its 22nd season – while India’s Bigg Boss has now spawned six regional spin-offs.
Peter Salmon, chief creative officer of Endemol Shine, expects Big Brother to remain a dominant force on television, saying he is “banking on it being successful for decades to come”.
Salmon told Deadline: “You and I would find it hard to predict how Big Brother will evolve over the next 20 years but we know it will be around and we know it has enduring appeal.
“We embrace social and digital, we build long running relationships in the major markets, we embrace new language versions in different territories.
“We encourage comebacks, we know broadcasters want tentpoles, we think about the pressures that broadcasters are under in terms of price points and ask how we can help them continue to afford it.
“We’re proud of it, it sits at the heart of our DNA, it’s a badge of honor. Big Brother is not stuffy and conservative, it embraces the future, it’s got to continue to do that.”
Recent technological advancements mean Big Brother no longer needs custom-built environments for production. The Polish reboot is the first in the world to use a real-life existing house, while camera runs have been removed from the Pinoy Big Brother house in the Philippines.
Bình luận