Miss Rwanda has yet again proved to be the most popular annual event in Rwanda, growing by leaps and bounds across digital and broadcast platforms in 2021.

For the first time in the beauty contest’s history, this year’s edition was held virtually and in a bubble format, with the grand finale taking place without an audience.

In the run-up to this year’s contest, organisers announced a raft of exciting changes to the pageant, coupled with an increase in prizes including university scholarships for all the 20 finalists, ‘the most talented’ and ‘most innovative project’ among others

The contest, which is built around three key values namely beauty, brains and culture, was also made more inclusive both in terms of age and height requirements.

The records behind Miss Rwanda 2021

From social networking sites to television and websites, this year’s edition attracted monumental growth in visitors, impressions, and viewership, by far surpassing the numbers reached by previous editions.

For instance, statistics from TweetReach, a Free Twitter Analytics Report, show that daily average in the days leading up to Miss Rwanda 2021 grand finale and a few days after the grand finale event reached 1.1 million impressions across 626,640 accounts.

The Hashtag #MissRwanda2021 generated 25,215,999 impressions over a period of one month leading up to the grand finale on March 20, with 11,612,083 impressions recorded during the three days prior to and on the final day of the beauty contest.

Meghan Nimwiza, the communications director and spokesperson for Rwanda Inspiration Back-Up, the organisers of the pageant, says the numbers were quite impressive, which gives a statement of how big the annual event has grown over the years.

"We are grateful for the support, the pageant, contestants, and winners continue to receive. One of the most notable statistics is the fact that 93.5 per cent of comments showed a positive sentiment, it’s a reminder of just how popular this incredible platform is,” Nimwiza says.

Nimwiza notes that the Miss Rwanda platform registered impressive growth in traffic beyond social networking sites, including the pageant’s official YouTube channel and website, while its partner websites (online media) and television outlets drew huge audiences.

 "The numbers are showing growth across the board, even outside Rwanda where people were required to pay (US$3) to watch the crowning ceremony,” she says.

As a matter of fact, the Miss Rwanda YouTube channel generated 12.5 million impressions and 1.4 million views in a period of 28 days (from February 27 to March 26), reflecting a 999 per cent growth rate.

 The channel garnered 368,500 unique views over the same period, drawing 1.3 million impressions and over 177,000 views (growth of 1,089 per cent) only during the grand finale.

One of the fastest-growing Miss Rwanda platforms is the official Instagram account, which generated over 11, 323,908 impressions between February 20 and March 21, 2021, representing a growth of 264.2 per cent over a month earlier.