Dubai, the El Dorado of reality TV influencers: the birth of a cash machine

Our series “

Influencers in Dubai

” in five episodes

:

Nabilla, Jazz, Hillary… "they sell dreams in a dream setting"

"Now we are all here"

The birth of a cash machine

Dubai had it all planned

The "French bad" crispe locals and expatriates

The day looks bright in Dubai.

Vacationers enjoy the beach facing the luxurious Five Palm, a five-star hotel built on one of the emirate's man-made islands.

Dylan Thiry has been living for several months in one of the high-rise bedroom apartments.

“That day, the influencer with 700,000 followers planned to take part in a private boxing class, eat in a restaurant and“ sunbathe all afternoon, quiet ”.

He is known for having landed on an island in "Koh-Lanta" with Gucci moccasins, and for his stories on Instagram in which he renews his attachment to his Muslim religion.

At the end of this rich day, he will have earned… 3000 euros!

A tidy sum won in a few minutes thanks to two product placements, one for sports betting, the other for appetite-suppressing drinks.

Two short videos that he will make at the end of his sunbathing afternoon.

"It's simple, my price is 1500 euros to talk about a brand", cowardly, sitting on a deckchair, the 26-year-old sportsman with blond hair gathered in a bun.

The reinvention of teleshopping

Thanks to this system, a reality TV candidate can earn up to 80,000 euros per month.

Many claim to have become millionaires.

The prices vary according to the influencers in a range of 150 to 8000 euros, for a video or a photo extolling the merits of a brand posted on an Instagram or Snapchat account.

It all depends on the procession of subscribers, the famous “followers” ​​in their wake.

Dylan Thiry, 26, boasts a price of 1,500 euros to talk about a brand on his social networks.

LP / Fred Dugit

“The term product placement has become pejorative,” says Dylan.

In reality, it's like an ad on TV.

The more you are followed, the more the brand sells, so the higher our prices are.

But the brand makes five times as much money as we do.

"

Among professionals, this commercial technique has a name: influencer marketing.

On their networks, personalities praise the merits of teeth whitening strips, sportswear or decorative objects.

The brands are called Nicky Paris, Pin Up Secret, Clarosa, ... Generally little known to the general public, they flood Instagram or Snapchat stories at little cost, but never appear on television.

Much like teleshopping salespeople, influencer pros post comments from satisfied users, stage themselves with items, ensure products are “awesome”.

“Today, I make one to two placements every day,” explains Dylan Thiry.

Others can line up up to four a day.

Everything is well established.

The influencer receives, every day, precise instructions from the advertiser, with keywords, elements of language, to pronounce.

At the end of the video, he distills his subscribers with promo codes with amazing discounts.

“With the code Dylan50, you have the right to 50% reduction,” he says with a smile.

Thanks to this marketing technique, Nicky Paris cosmetics claim to have sold more than 2 million products in two years to 700,000 customers, according to the Capital website.

From lawsuits to communications operations, they monetize their notoriety

This money machine that has become the fuel of reality TV has not always existed.

Before, everything was "hard", slip all of our interlocutors.

In the 2000s, the first candidates of "reality shows" hardly monetized their notoriety.

Loana became a star in the first "Loft Story" in 2001, but, unlike comedians or actors, she had no kind of employment contract.

At the time, the candidates subjected to very restrictive “regulations” by the chains, they are filmed 24 hours a day… All this without salary, overtime or paid vacation.

Most of them fell into penniless anonymity.

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"Loft Story", twenty years later: how reality TV has imposed itself everywhere

A lawyer found the loophole in 2008 and had the contracts reclassified at the Prud'hommes.

Shock wave in the profession: candidates are now paid for their television appearances, at various rates depending on the programs and the seniority of the participants.

Up to 13,000 euros for five weeks of shooting.

But not enough to live on all year round ...

At the start of the next decade, a few began to “capitalize” on their image.

This is the era of "bookings".

The candidates multiply the appearances in nightclubs.

They are offered gifts by clothing brands or hotels.

A profession is emerging, stammering.

"We had the status of intermittent show at the time," recalls Hillary Vanderosieren, known since her participation in "Ch'tis" in 2012.

Magali Berdah revolutionizes product placement

The turning point came in 2017, when reality TV figures embarked on product placement.

Behind this flourishing business hides a woman, Magali Berdah, a former insurance broker, now at the head of Shauna Events, the first “e-influencers” agency.

Impossible to get an appointment worthy of the name after multiple requests.

Always overwhelmed, the pope of influencers plays the Arlésiennes.

You have to question the people around her to understand the shift.

Before embarking on this lucrative profession, the business manager, based in Nice, was accumulating difficulties.

She is on the verge of bankruptcy when she meets, by chance, Jazz, a candidate for the “Angels of reality TV”.

A world she doesn't know.

Jazz has to go to a hotel to negotiate free nights.

"It works like that for us, we have gifts," slips the candidate.

Magali takes offense.

“If the owner of the hotel was making money from her, she had to be paid.

All work deserves a salary, ”explained the entrepreneur in a video posted in 2019 on YouTube.

In the process, she accompanies him to this hotel and negotiates a stamp of 3000 euros.

Impressed, Jazz asks her to take it in hand.

“I didn't have Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram,” continues Magali Berdah in the same video.

However, these networks will become the pillars of its future business.

She quickly realizes that the candidates are not supervised and negotiate their services themselves.

After Jazz, others seek it out to monetize their notoriety.

“Magali Berdah changed my life… She revolutionized influence,” says Milla Jasmine, seen in “The Princes and Princesses of Love” on W9.

LP / Fred Dugit

Product placements already exist in the United States, not in France;

Magali Berdah identifies a market to seize.

The machine is started.

“At first, we didn't really know what we were doing.

My first steps were hesitant, I didn't know what to say, ”recalls Hillary, who started at Shauna Events, before changing agency.

“The first year, Magali didn't have a minute left.

She answered messages at all hours of the night and flew three times a week.

We had the impression that she never slept, ”says Milla Jasmine, another of her young stars.

Magali Berdah plunges into an environment that seems made for her.

This 39-year-old mother already has all the codes: bling-bling, flashy clothes, plunging necklines.

She even says she is proud to be "hyper silicone".

Thanks to her outspokenness, she becomes the “mother” of her clients whom she defends tooth and nail.

And to stay close to them, she has just rented a pied-à-terre in the emirate in recent weeks.

“Magali changed my life… She revolutionized influence,” says Milla Jasmine.

His personality even seduces Cyril Hanouna who hires him as a columnist in his program "Touche pas à mon poste".

She also participates in reality TV shows where she plays her own role, that of an agency manager who advises her foals.

His business thrives and achieves 2 million euros in turnover in the first year.

Other agencies, such as We events, follow his model.

It was bought by Banijay, a production company owned by Stéphane Courbit.

"Obviously we are afraid that it will stop"

With success come criticism.

Some products offered for sale by its customers are pinned down by Internet users: defective, sold too dear or even of poor quality… “We are paying more attention now.

It is our reputation, our credibility which is at stake ”, explains Sarah Lopez, 1.5 million followers on Instagram since her participation in“ Secret Story ”, in 2016. Last year, a pass of arms the however opposes the committed journalist Hugo Clément, who denounces the visit of Julien Tanti and Manon Marsault, two people of the "Marseillais", in a private zoo in Dubai where animals are kept on a leash and locked up.

Making reality TV becomes a real job.

“When I explained that the candidates had monetized their lives, it was shocking.

Now it is more accepted ”, underlines Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini, researcher at the CNRS, author of the book“ 12 years of reality TV… Beyond moral criticism ”.

“I wondered, at the beginning, what was our talent to have so many people following us, says Hillary.

I have questioned myself many times.

I have no particular talent.

Why do people love me?

In the end, we just took our chance… ”

Sarah Lopez's influence ensures that she pays more attention to the products and brands she promotes, to preserve her reputation.

LP / Fred Dugit

A chance that they know they can turn very quickly.

"Obviously we are afraid that it will stop," says Milla Jasmine.

"We know that we are dependent on applications, Instagram, Snapchat ... If they disappear, we also disappear", loose Giovanni Bonamy, model and companion of Hillary.

Some, the most enterprising, have therefore created their own business: cosmetics, jewelry, sports applications or sports betting ... “We could see that brands were making money.

So why not do it too, ”assumes Dylan.

At 26, the young entrepreneur has created two companies and employs nine people.

All the while saving time for sunbathing.

Read episode 4:

Dubai had it all planned

From 2014, and the creation of a special “influencers” pole within the Ministry of Tourism, the authorities have relied on social networks to change the image of the country.

On-site invitations, tax exemptions, targeting of Instagramers and their followers according to their nationalities, etc.

Influencers are an integral part of the emirate's “soft-power” strategy.