EndemolShine Germany’s Brand-Funded Big Brother Spin-Off Hits 8.81 Million Live Views

18 December, 2023

Media and entertainment powerhouse, Banijay, today announces its all-new Big Brother spin-off in Germany, Big Brother – Knossi Edition hit 8.81 million live views during the 57-hour live stream on Twitch. With more than 2 million unique viewers, the series topped 283 million watched minutes.

Big Brother – Knossi Edition marked the format’s first venture into branded entertainment, and was a collaboration between EndemolShine Germany, Banijay Media Germany, Rainer Laux Productions (an EndemolShine Germany company) and DLS Consulting, the management of Knossi.

German social media star and entertainer, Jens “Knossi” Knossalla, moved into the Big Brother house alongside content creators Fritz Meinecke, Ann-Kathrin Bendixen aka Affe auf Bike, Marc Eggers and Adam Wolke aka Skyline TV, in a 57-hour live stream format. The series aired live on Knossi’s Twitch channel, with highlight clips also available on the Joyn platform – the streaming app of ProSiebenSat.1 Media, broadcaster of Celebrity Big Brother Germany.

Selected brand partners for the launch of the innovative format included SIMon Mobile, Denkriesen, kaufDA, Kaufland, Warner Bros., Snocks, Hasbro, Samsung, Gönrgy and Particibrand. The brands were integrated authentically into the format such as when SIMon mobile was shown whilst collecting the housemates’ mobile phones and Kaufland and its products were shown when the creators chose their food.

Fabian Tobias, Managing Director EndemolShine Germany: “Knossi finally got the keys to the Big Brother house… In return, we got the opportunity to work across different platforms and reach new audiences with one of the most famous Twitch personalities in Germany. A producer of Big Brother in Germany, Rainer Laux made it one of the most successful television brands in the country, and his idea to extend the brand in this way was a great opportunity to open up new target groups. Alongside Banijay Media, we have the best partners in this field who implemented our vision together.”

Moritz Bergmann, Head of Sales & Brand Partnerships Banijay Media Germany: “We staged Big Brother in a new, digital way and integrated selected brand partners natively into the content. Through the active and playful placements, the wide-reaching creators acted as vehicles for the brands’ messages and transported them into the digital community. Thanks go to EndemolShine Germany, Knossi and our brand partners!”

Rainer Laux, Managing Director Rainer Laux Productions and Executive Director EndemolShine Germany: “It was a great to see how successfully our Big Brother performs, not only as a television format, but also as a purely digital format on Twitch and Joyn. This spin-off was adapted to the young target audience and thus shows the versatility of the brand.”

To date, Banijay format Big Brother has had 68 adaptations, broadcast across 72 countries, with over 550 seasons and 36,000 episodes. 2022 marked the most successful year ever global with 33 productions airing across 26 markets.

Last month, Banijay confirmed its ambitions to further expand its brand funded portfolio, with the unveiling of Banijay Branded Entertainment (BBE). A new division within the group, BBE is overseen by Head of Branded Entertainment Business Development, Carlotta Rossi Spencer, and will leverage Banijay’s expansive global production expertise to further evolve the group’s global efforts in the branded content space.