History Made in MTN-Sponsored The Mic: Africa Season 3

Nigeria’s Neky Becomes First Woman to Win Grand Prize

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, November 14, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Five-time Telly Award-winning music competition and docu-series The Mic: Africa – the first interactive TV format born on the Continent – has announced its winning artists for Season 3. Nigerian singer Neky Ngwe has become the first woman ever to win the top prize in The Mic: Africa contest. She emerged from a tight competition of fans voting in the Take Back the Mic (TBTM) app with three weighted finale votes from Country Captains, taking her combined score over the top. Neky wins the show’s top cash prize and a VIP trip for two to Dubai.

Also breaking ground this year, 8 of out of 10 local filmmakers who shot the semifinalists’ video profiles were women, highlighting the phenomenal depth of female creative talent on the Continent.

The other winners include Ethiopia’s Rumiii and Hiwot Admasu sharing the TBTM Honors Prize for best Artist/Filmmaker duo, Morocco’s Drunk Panda with the Founder’s Prize, award-winning Nigerian filmmaker and media CEO Chichi Nwoko winning the Golden Reel Prize, and the Fan Favorite Prize going to rapper J93 of Tanzania.

Season 3 brought the series’ total media impressions to 1.1 Billion, with broadcast distribution on Premium Free Satellite TV in 20+ countries across the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa with an audience reach of 40 Million, and a global audience tuning in at tbtm.app. This year’s show brought stiff competition between an array of talent spanning the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

Three Celebrity Mentors from across the diaspora helped guide the talent with both heartfelt encouragement and unvarnished feedback: Hip Hop legend and trailblazing Death Row rapper, Lady of Rage; David Kau, South Africa’s leading standup comic, and renowned Nigerian Music Executive, Bizzle Osikoya.

The Mic: Africa seeks to connect African music, arts and culture with a new generation of fans around the world. Ghana-born Founder & CEO of TBTM Studios, Derrick N. Ashong (“DNA”), launched the TBTM app to reward consumers for discovering and amplifying the hottest new content.

“With The Mic: Africa,” said Ashong, “Our goal is to lift up the amazing artists and filmmakers we discover on the TBTM platform, while rewarding their fans with mobile data so they can stay online longer with local operators like MTN Nigeria.”

About TBTM Studios

TBTM (Take Back the Mic) Studios has built the world’s first blockchain-based Media Fintech, turning Culture into Currency by rewarding fans and compensating creators for building communities around great content. Their flagship program, the interactive talent competition and docu-series, “The Mic: Africa,” has earned 5 Telly Awards (2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze), opposite Netflix, HBO and Disney+, a Murex D’Or Award, and a Monaco Streaming Award, as well as more than 1 Billion media impressions worldwide, and numerous Times Square billboards in New York City. TBTM Studios has just opened its Dubai office, adding to its presence in Hollywood, Buenos Aires, and Mauritius, East Africa.

About PremiumFree

PremiumFree is a free-to-air satellite television bouquet. PremiumFree channels can be accessed through free to air decoders via satellite or the PremiumFree app. PremiumFree is rapidly being recognised as Africa’s leading free multichannel TV service, bringing millions of African households the best free TV bouquet in their market via satellite. By bringing so many pay TV quality channels across themes suitable for the whole family PremiumFree is a revolution in the TV market with its bold new message: Why pay? Just watch!

Desiree Peterkin Bell
DPBell & Associates
267-438-7126
[email protected]