MultiChoice marks another big South African television first as M-Net becomes the country's first TV channel to do an entirely online media screening and press conference for a local show as the second season of The Bachelor SA ends.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice and M-Net made more South African television history on Thursday night, 28 May 2020, when the M-Net channel on DStv became the first-ever South African TV channel to do a fully virtual media event and press conference for a local TV production as the premium-positioned pay-TV channel brought the second season of The Bachelor South Africa to a close.

Thursday night's truly massive online media gathering - held on Zoom and organised by M-Net's veteran head of publicity, Lani Lombard - successfully brought together dozens of journalists representing South Africa's national entertainment media spanning newspapers, magazines, radio and online (including a journalist currently residing in Thailand).

It also included high-ranking M-Net executives, Rapid Blue producers, sponsors, and several MultiChoice and M-Net staffers.

M-Net's comprehensive webinar-styled press event for The Bachelor South Africa included all the top M-Net programming, scheduling and content executives including Jan du Plessis (M-Net channels director), Kaye Ann Williams (M-Net senior manager for commissioned content), Terja Beney (commissioning editor) and Tracy-Ann Van Rooyen (M-Net senior manager for content acquisition and scheduling).

Also included in the Zoom media get-together were The Bachelor SA's Rapid Blue executive producers Kee-Leen Irvine and Donald Clarke, as well as The Bachelor SA series director Nick Archer.

Some global TV channels and international streaming services have been doing a few carousel-interviews with selected on-screen talent as part of online-shifted press junkets for some foreign series, films and TV specials the past two months using Zoom and Google Meet after their publicity plans had to be retooled because of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

None of these have however gone as far as M-Net (DStv 101) that on Thursday night broke new ground into a brave new online world and earned another footnote in South African television history.

M-Net became the first-ever South African TV channel to do a pre-event online party (complete with DJ Louis playing music), an in-app content screening of an entire hourlong episode and viewing party, followed by an entirely virtually held post-show press conference with the media for a locally-produced South African series.

It's an achievement and big-idea publicity initiative that not even a video streamer like Netflix South Africa was able to pull off or apparently even wanted to try and muster for some of its recently released new local South African fare.

Before Thursday night's web engagement M-Net earlier this week couriered an M-Net embroidered fleece gown, socks, hot chocolate and a box of chocolate nougat biscuits as part of a press drop to the media spread out across South Africa including Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

This happened as journalists and editors received a successive series of recorded, instructional and entertaining video messages on their cellphones over days from The Bachelor SA host Jason Greer with step-by-step instructions on what to do next and how to prepare for the Zoom media event.

Multiple media members on Thursday night appeared in their blocks on the Zoom meeting video grid wearing their M-Net gowns.

They first mingled and chatted online, and then watched the second season finale of The Bachelor SA that was shown on one of the feeds inside the Zoom meeting at the same time as the linear broadcast of the show's final episode went out on the M-Net (DStv 101) channel.

That was followed with a post-show, in-Zoom press briefing where M-Net executives, The Bachelor SA director and producers, and Marc Buckner and Marisia van Wyk, took various questions from the media.

As if the M-Net online media event exercise wasn't already impressive enough, M-Net further stacked the press engagement with a highly-valuable and informative content presentation done by Tracy-Ann Van Rooyen highlighting the new upcoming international content coming to the M-Net channel.

More impressive than the well-executed and engaging pre-event online Q&A between Jason Greer and Lani Lombard done from a special Linden studio, and more impressive than the real-world and virtual world logistics and organising that went into the media meeting was that it lasted for 3 and a half hours.

It's extremely impressive when taking into account that the bulk of the signed-up South African media not only chose to stay online, but also remained interested in M-Net and the channel's content and its presentation, and were highly engaged for all of it for the entire multi-hour time.


ALO READ: Marc Buckner chooses shy Marisia, slips a 'forever baby girl'-engraved ring on her finger in the second season finale of The Bachelor SA as M-Net makes South African television history with a virtual video post-show press briefing.
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