E! unveils a new E! Africa TV commercial to celebrate its presence of 15 years on the continent; 'it was like a proper film set,' says Roxy Burger.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) filmed and has launched a brand-new TV promo including Bonang Matheba, Minnie Dlamini, Roxy Burger, Kat Sinivasan, beatboxer Tina Redman and Nigerian rapper D'banj as part of a marketing campaign to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the presence of the channel from NBCUniversal International Networks (NBCUIN) in South Africa and across Africa.

Lee Raftery, NBCUniversal International Networks content and marketing boss for the Africa region, unveiled and played the TV promo at the #15YearsOfE in Africa celebration party that took place on Thursday night at the Alice & Fifth underground avant-garde nightclub at the Sandton Sun Hotel in Johannesburg where celebrities, TV executives and the media mingled.

The #LoveELiveE brand campaign comes after NBCUIN did the first-ever E! Africa Pop Culture Awards giving 7 E!-trophies to South African and Nigerian stars.

Besides the South African and Nigerian star, the TV promo also includes the E! News co-anchor Giuliana Rancic, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Kim Kardashian and Dr Terry Dubrow and Dr Paul Nassif from the Botched reality show.

In the new promo spot, the E! talent appear in the brand commercial that gives the smartphone a prominent and central place - the device that has propelled and forced channels like E! to adapt to the avalanche of quickly-available entertainment news content now available, but also creating a new opportunity to use and leverage the content now being generated by social media users themselves.

In a press statement quote hand-out to media, Lee Raftery, managing director for the United Kingdom and emerging markets and chief marketing and content officer at NBCUniversal International, said "As we mark our 15 year anniversary in Africa, in partnership with DStv, the #LoveELiveE brand campaign celebrates our passion for all things entertainment and celebrity – in a way that only E! Africa could do – by combining best-in-class talent from Hollywood and Africa".

"E! has a very exciting year ahead with the recent announcement of our new local commission, Celebrity Game Night, airing late-2019 with more details to follow in the coming months."

A planned NBCUI interview with Lee Raftery on Thursday didn't work out and wasn't possible.

Roxy Burger, co-host of How Do I Look? South Africa at Thursday night's E! party event told TVwithThinus that "it was absolutely incredible to be in this TV commercial for E! Africa".

"Filming this E! TV commercial was so much fun - I think the level and standard of what we did was just amazing. It was like a proper film set, you know!"

"So for me as someone coming from and working in television, I'm not used to these fancy things, so it was amazing. And to share the E! stage with people like Minnie Dlamini, Bonang Mathema and D'banj was an honour and really cool."

Kat Sinivasan, co-host of How Do I Look? South Africa and E!'s Africa correspondent, told TVwithThinus that filming the E! TV commercial was "fantastic and spectacular", done really professionally and on a large scale.

Minnie Dlamini told TVwithThinus "It was really fun, it was actually really painless. We did it super, super quick - almost like a 'one-take wonder'. It was really, really fun!"

A planned NBCUI interview with Bonang Matheba on Thursday didn't work out and wasn't possible.


ALSO READ: REVIEW. E!'s 15th birthday party in South Africa was fine and looked beautiful but with too many 'standing-room only' guests while TV execs hid away in their roped-off alcoves, it felt more college-years nightclub night than big celebration.
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. As E! marks 15 years in South Africa as a TV channel on DStv, here are 15 things that E! brought into my life that I'm thankful for. 
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. At E!'s 15th Africa anniversary party, I tried to ask ProVerb just one question - and then something happened that made me think about what's reasonable to expect from TV stars who decide to be on the red carpet. 
ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. 37 photos from inside E!'s party to celebrate 15 years of the channel from NBCUniversal International Networks in South Africa and Africa on MultiChoice's DStv.ALSO READ: MultiChoice content boss, Aletta Alberts, on 15 years of E! from NBCUniversal International Networks on DStv: 'Africans will continue to be part of the E! story'.
ALSO READ: Bonang Matheba, Minnie Dlamini and Lasizwe panned over red carpet fashion choices, Nomzamo Mbatha and Aisha Baker praised for E! Africa's 15th birthday celebration.
ALSO READ: E! in Africa announces the recipients of its first-ever E! Africa Pop Culture Awards in 2019. 
ALSO READ: NBCUniversal International Networks celebrating E!'s 15th anniversary in South Africa and Africa with a celebration party and the first-ever E! Africa Pop Culture Awards.
ALSO READ: E! commissions new 10-episode show, Celebrity Game Night, produced by Rapid Blue, as its next localised African series; production starting July for broadcast in late-2019. 

Pearl Thusi dumps the SABC's Live AMP on SABC1 with immediate effect; joins MTV's Lip Sync Battle Africa as co-presenter with D'Banj.

Pearl Thusi is dumping the SABC's Live AMP on SABC1 with immediate effect to become the co-presenter together with D'Banj of the Viacom International's new African version of Lip Sync Battle that will be produced for MTV Base and e.tv.

Pearl Thusi's final appearance on SABC1's Live AMP which she co-hosted for the past 3 years will be tomorrow evening, 4 March, after which she will be focusing on the African and South African version of the show in which well-known personalities lip sing on other artists' well-known hits.

"We're pleased to have played a significant role in her growth within the SABC family," says Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC publicist, "and we wish her well in all her future projects".

"Working with Pearl has been an absolute pleasure, losing her on the show is sad but also we're extremely proud to have played a role in her growth within the entertainment industry," says Sjula Dlamini, Live AMP producer.

Lip Sync Battle will start on 14 April on MTV (DStv 130) at 20:30, on MTV Base (DStv 322)  from Saturday 16 April at 11:30, and e.tv (DStv 194 / OVHD 104) in high definition from Saturday 23 April at 18:30.

Pearl Thusi will join Afrobeat singer D'Banj on Lip Sync Battle Africa and says she's "so excited to be a part of bringing it to African audiences".

D'Banj says he is "excited, willing and ready to entertain the continent" and that he's "looking forward to seeing how well my fellow celebrities battle each other and entertain the world".

TVwithThinus asked Lip Sync Battle Africa but executives declined to reveal any names of personalities who've agreed so far to appear on the show.

"We are thrilled to translate this global franchise to Africa for the first time," says Alex Okosi, the senior vice president and managing director of Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa).

"Lip Sync Battle Africa cannot fail to emulate the success of the franchise in the United States and spin-offs in territories such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Chile".

"Lip Sync Battle Africa is guaranteed to capture the attention and affection of our audience in Africa," says Dillon Khan, head of MTV and VH1 in Africa.

"The high-energy format of the show will be complimented by the two hosts who are massive stars of the entertainment industry on the African continent," says Keshni Rajoo, the head of local productions at e.tv. The free-to-air commercial broadcaster is doing Lip Sync Battle in conjunction with VIMN Africa.

"Our homegrown talent will be given the opportunity to show off their lip sync skills alongside some of the biggest names in Africa. e.tv is proud to be a partner of Lip Sync Battle Africa."

Lip Sync Battle Africa will be mainly South African and Nigerian artists, Dillon Khan tells TVwithThinus, "but we will have a sprinkling from East Africa too".

"Once the show is established, we'd look at involving more countries and artists in the second season".

Asked if songs will all be performed in English, or also include songs in other African languages, Dillon Khan says "our only stipulation is that one of the songs must be an African hit and one an international hit - there's no restriction in terms of language".

I asked what about the Lip Sync Battle format would be different for the localised version of Lip Sync Battle Africa, and Dillon Khan says its a "tried and trusted" format "and if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

"Much of what you'll see will look a little familiar, albeit with a touch of African flavour. The set is inspired by the United States one. We will have 2 hosts, and 2 contestants singing 2 songs each. Our key differences are the use of African hosts and African contestants and the stipulation about one song being from Africa," says Dillon Khan.