To meet our business goals in 2015 meant reaching beyond gaming into popular culture.

In this market there are no second chances: our audience had to feel this was a mainstream cultural event so big that if they missed it, they missed out.

The idea: Europe’s biggest ever livestream, an unmissable cultural ‘must see’ online event as we counted down live to the moment Call of Duty Black Ops III was released. Vitally this would use celebrities and influencers to reach into popular culture where huge numbers of new Call of Duty fans could be recruited.

We’d deliver simultaneous unmissable experiences and content for every audience, for every screen, staging livestreams from eight European cities, localised, connected, uniting ‘super fans’ from the worlds of YouTube, Twitch, sports, film and music to create unique content on such a scale it would build unstoppable momentum as fans across Europe watched and shared.

Simultaneous YouTube & Twitch livestreams from UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden & Russia on launch night. All were interconnected, creating a ‘Europe-wide’ experience for viewers.

75 YouTubers and over 40 Celebrities (all genuine Call of Duty fans) entertained fans across Europe with new content reveals, competitive matches and conversation.

Highlights

• UK: Stream hosted by online sensation Syndicate, exclusively revealed to the world new game content. Syndicate was joined on camera by eSports, real sports and YouTube influencers, such as Hector Bellerin (Arsenal), Callum ‘Swanny’ Swan and MasterOv (YouTuber with 1.25m subs).

• France: hosted by number 1 gaming YouTube channel in France – Cyprien Gaming, whose guests included athletes Marquinhos, Pastore and Sirigu from Paris St Germain

• The Netherlands: international dance music superstar Afrojack joined Twitch influencer Yarasky for the livestream.

• Media partnership reposted streams across mainstream and gaming outlets& retailers including The Sun, GameStop, Micromania, MonsterEnergy

The incredible content and support of Twitch and YouTube stars, celebrities, media & brand partners drove massive grass-roots excitement and raised the bar for entertainment launches:

• We hold the Guinness World Record for the biggest video-game broadcast ever

• Nearly 800,000 unique viewers

• 17.7 million total minutes watched (equal to 33 years of liner viewing)

• UK celebrities attending live stream reached 6.78m fans and generated 250,000+ likes

The stream activity supported a global media, digital and PR campaign, which combined to drive incredible results for the business:

• Highest Per Player Engagement ever recorded for Call of Duty; more than 75 million hours online over three days

• Digital sales nearly double over prior year

• Call of Duty Black Ops III went on to make $550m in worldwide sales across its three day opening weekend, making it the Biggest Entertainment Launch of 2015 (internal data)