The first season of what started as a show to fill a gap in the local television programming in Kenya came to an end on the first Saturday of March 2019. Hello Mr. Right, a reality TV dating show, was first aired by StarTimes in Kenya in December 2018, and went on for audience-pleasing 12 episodes. StarTimes is a major Chinese media and technology company with a strong presence in Africa. Hello Mr. Right was originally created by Chinese digital television provider TopStar, a subsidiary of StarTimes.

Based on the success of the show, organizers are now gearing up for Season Two, slated to begin in July this year.

"There are a lot of things that we will change and add to make the show even more spicy and interesting," said Sammy Dee, Director of True D Productions Ltd., a company contracted by StarTimes to produce the show.

The springboard from which Hello Mr. Right show was launched was born out of a yearning from a TV audience that was looking for something different. The available programs at that time provided little in the way of variety, when it came to reality shows.

"The motivation behind Hello Mr. Right stemmed from a market gap when it came to soft reality TV shows," explained George Wendo, Content Marketing Manager at StarTimes Kenya.

Wendo said that besides addressing a TV programming gap, the idea was also inspired by the audience's bias toward love-themed programs.

People driven

It must, however, also be noted that the Kenyan Government's requirement that TV shows contain at least 40 percent local content was an important factor to consider in coming up with the idea.

Even so, this is not to say that such programming was completely non-existent. As a matter of fact, two TV stations were airing similar programs prior to Hello Mr. Right.

For example, the Kenya Television Network (KTN) had its own reality show called Tujuane (Swahili for Let's Know Each Other). Another local station, Ebru TV, aired a program along similar lines called The Perfect Match.

Unlike the two shows by other TV stations, Dee explains that Hello Mr. Right had a live audience, which was engaged throughout.

"In other words, the audience participated by predicting which participants will end up choosing each other to become partners, something that livened up the show," he said.

The show's main target audience was the youth because, as Wendo puts it, the conversation throughout the country revolved around love. So, all they needed to do was to package the right content aimed at this particular demographic.

The dating program, which aired for an hour starting at 9:40 p.m. every Saturday "was the most watched channel on television in the country," added Wendo, boosting the StarTimes ratings. This was reflected by increased revenue as more and more companies were advertising on the channel as a result.

Kenya is captured by affaires of the heart (HELLORF)

Right mix

True D Production Ltd. was responsible for recruiting the program's participants. Auditions had to be done two months prior to televising the first episode.

Over 150 individuals aged 18 years and above were auditioned. In the end, 80 females and 36 males were selected. Each episode had three Mr. Rights and eight lady participants.

A big part of the show's success was the promotion activities. A range of methods were used to drum up awareness including advertising on StarTimes' partner TV channels as well as buying advertising space on other TV channels.

Dee said social media proved to be the most effective way of promoting the show. Message placements on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram helped generate mega hype.

But nothing - even on social media - could come close to matching the evocative and crowd-pulling influence of a celebrity name like Vera Sidika.

Sidika is a television personality of note in Kenya. She is as popular as she is controversial. Dee and his team understood that with passions, emotions and romance on display on the show, Sidika would be the perfect hostess.

Dee launched a teaser campaign on social media hinting that Sidika would be one of the hosts, without categorically confirming it.

And the audience lapped it up. They were all on tenterhooks in anticipation of a romantic reality TV show like no other, something that set off a hot debate on social media. Sidika did become one of the hosts, paired with Sande Bush, a popular Kenyan comedian, who goes by the stage name of Dr. Ofweneke. With these two on board, Hello Mr. Right never looked back.

Unique format

The show's format, unlike others on rival TV stations, was unique, according to Dee. A male contestant would be presented before eight women on stage who were given the chance to either choose or reject him. A short background video about the man would be played to the ladies prior to him stepping on stage. The man also had the option of selecting the lady of his choice.

"There were occasions when all eight ladies would choose the same man and on other instances no one was chosen," said Dee.

Diman Mkare, a 26-year old man, who owns a model agency, was a participant in Hello Mr. Right, but was unfortunate in that he did not manage to find a love partner.

"It was a wonderful experience to be part of the show," said Mkare, whose only advice to the show's organizers is that it must continue beyond the first season.

Initial indications from Reel Forge, a monitoring and evaluation company contracted to evaluate the show's performance, suggest that the show was really well received. 

"That is why plans are already under way for the Season Two," said Wendo.

One of the show's selling points, according to Wendo, lay in the fact that potential participants had to pass a rigorous screening process. The thorough vetting process ensured that only individuals whose marital status was single were selected to appear on the show. 

"We wanted to have individuals who were genuinely looking for love and not people who were seeking popularity through the show," said Wendo, adding that this way, the program gained a lot of credibility.

Also, the selected participants were people who possessed some talent to showcase during the program, such as dancing, painting and singing.

Wendo said the next season will take note of what worked previously and make changes to produce an even better show.

(Comments to niyanshuo@chinafrica.cn)