Interactive reality show Rival Peak hit 100M minutes watched in its first season

The sport-like interactive actuality present Rival Peak surpassed greater than 100 million minutes watched for its first 12-week season, Genvid Technologies introduced.

The occasion watched on Fb was one of many largest interactive occasions to date this yr, and it was created by Pipeworks Studios, Genvid, and DJ2 Leisure.

The present bought 200 million engagements throughout 13 simultaneous 24-hour, seven-day-a-week livestreams in addition to a weekly wrap-up present hosted by movie star Will Wheaton. The present was a brand new type of interactive expertise that was partly a sport and partly a actuality present. The viewers consisted of actual individuals, however the characters they watched had been AI-based.

“We’re very proud of how this primary experiment went, and the important thing metric we’re targeted on is the 100 million minutes watched,” mentioned Jacob Navok, CEO of Genvid, in an interview with GamesBeat. “That’s up there with any type of leisure, which is fairly cool as a brand new mental property.”

Above: Rival Peak’s viewers grew over 12 weeks.

Picture Credit score: Genvid

The present featured 12 AI characters who’re contestants in a Survivor-like competitors set in an animated Pacific Northwest. The reside viewers might affect the end result by grinding away at duties and serving to their favourite characters. The present ran 24 hours a day, seven days every week.

“The issues that bought individuals essentially the most excited had been the story elements like romances between among the characters,” mentioned Navok. “Folks actually appreciated the romantic storyline and the drama beats.”

Rival Peak was hottest on cell gadgets and attracted viewers from over 70 nations, with the biggest audiences within the U.S., India, Mexico, and the Philippines. Weekly minutes watched grew at a weekly charge of 40%. After one month, weekly minutes watched had been up over 300%. By the conclusion, they had been over 55 occasions higher than the primary week.

Pipeworks CEO Lindsay Gupton mentioned beforehand in an interview with GamesBeat that he had been speaking concerning the concept with Navok for 3 years. No different firm had the know-how to tug off one thing like this, Gupton mentioned. Pipeworks did an interactive stream on Twitch the place the viewers might vote on the outcomes about 5 years in the past. The developer tapped into tech like emergent AI and social broadcasting whereas Genvid made the interacting streaming know-how doable.

Above: Rival Peak had lots of interplay with the viewers.

Picture Credit score: Genvid

Navok mentioned that Rival Peak was the first-ever entry into the brand new Large Interactive Stay Occasion (MILE) class. The viewers solid thousands and thousands of votes, solved thousands and thousands of puzzles, and assisted the characters (or not) in finishing duties and prioritizing targets. Viewers collectively influenced the course and end result of Rival Peak whereas individually serving to the characters survive the wilderness and keep away from elimination.

“Probably the most sticky content material we might generate that bought among the highest peaks when it comes to concurrence was after we had streamers come on and discuss what was occurring,” Navok mentioned.

The TV present will likely be out there via movies within the app now.

The reside present had its challenges, as one section fell off schedule as a result of COVID points interrupted the manufacturing. The staff needed to create another rerun episode in a situation that concerned a loopy hacker taking on.

“It was loopy and none of this was a part of the unique plan,” Navok mentioned.

Android accounted for 84% of the customers. iOS was 12% (because it got here on that platform at mid-season), and the PC/Mac was 4%. Fb sponsored the present and broadcast the occasion.

“The worldwide nature of it was actually cool,” Navok mentioned. “It’s not simply North American and Europe. It’s India, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Latin America, and Brazil. The largest lesson is you by no means know what your largest markets might be.”