Media personality and presenter Bonang Matheba has learned the trick when it comes to forming a connection with her audience. So much so that the star has become so popular that almost every single project her name is attached to thrives with success. So, when the star premiered an exciting two-part reality series titled ‘A Very Bonang Year’ on SABC 1 this month, it was expected to pull in massive ratings. However, no-one saw the star breaking the channel’s viewership records!
In an impressive feat, the SABC confirmed that ‘A Very Bonang Year’ became the most-watched celebrity-driven reality series of all time on their platform bringing in over 1.8 million viewers.
“We are excited to announce that ‘A Very Bonang Year’ reached a record-breaking 1.86 million viewership in its first episode of broadcast. This is unheard of for any broadcast platform in SA for a celebrity-driven reality show genre and at a time when SA viewers have more reality TV content to choose from,” Zandile Nkonyeni, Head of PR: SABC TV Channels, said in a statement.
The series explores Bonang’s game-changing trip to New York last year where she appeared on some high-profile media platforms, including ‘The Breakfast Club’, apartment hunting, a behind-the-scenes look at the creation process of ‘Public Figures’ – a film Bonang was involved with, apartment hunting, the Wild Aid gala and receiving her E! Entertainment award.
“I thought because 2019 was such a big year, I want everybody to be able to see what the hell I have actually been up to. I thought this is the perfect time to bring the story back home, to come home,” Bonang said when she confirmed the show earlier this year.
“Pow! Madness. Thank you guys so much,” Bonang said on social media after seeing the reaction the series received. In fact, Bonang’s team confirms that over the weekend of the eighth and ninth of August, the #AVeryBonangYear trended on both days bringing in over 1.3 billion impressions. “The extraordinary amount of hashtag impressions — number 1 trending hashtag in SA over Saturday & Sunday — emphasised the ‘B Effect’, with even more hashtag impressions than the 1.1 billion reached during the launch of The House of BNG last year,” the statement read.
This is massive for South African television and we’re thrilled to see Bonang’s star take off to a place South African personalities only ever dreamed of reaching just a few short years ago. We can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next.
