“Rival Peak” Wraps and Surpasses 100 Million Minutes Watched
First Interactive Reality Show Garnered 200 Million Engagements Across 13 Simultaneous, 24/7 Live Streams and Weekly Wrap-Up Show
NEW YORK, NY and EUGENE, OR – March 24, 2021 – Genvid Technologies, Pipeworks Studios, and DJ2 Entertainment today announced that the interactive Facebook experience Rival Peak had more than 100 million minutes watched[1] on Facebook pages throughout its 12-week season, making Rival Peak one of the biggest interactive events of 2021 thus far.
The Rival Peak franchise was most popular on mobile devices and attracted viewers from over 70 countries, with the largest audiences in the U.S., India, Mexico, and the Philippines. Weekly minutes watched grew at a weekly rate of 40%. After one month, weekly minutes watched were up over 300%. By the conclusion, they were over 55x greater compared to Week One.
Rival Peak is the first-ever entry into the new Massive Interactive Live Event (“MILE”) category. In this hybrid reality show / interactive adventure game, a dozen sophisticated AI “contestants” spent 12 grueling weeks unraveling a complex mystery and navigating treacherous weather, “natural” disasters and twisted terrain. But these contestants weren’t alone. In real-time, the audience was deciding what happened, to whom, where, and when. By casting millions of votes, solving millions of puzzles, and assisting the characters (or not) in completing tasks and prioritizing goals, viewers collectively influenced the direction and outcome of Rival Peak while individually helping the characters survive the wilderness and avoid elimination.
“Our goal with Rival Peak and Speak was to create an altogether new entertainment experience that merges lean-back entertainment (TV and livestreaming) with interactive entertainment (games),” wrote Jacob Navok, CEO and co-founder of Genvid and the showrunner for Rival Peak, on Medium. “Facebook has been an incredible partner in this process. Using their platform we were able to seamlessly weave a global, mobile-first experience across livestreaming, VOD and games that could reach tens of millions. This tremendous success is a palpable proof of concept for this new entertainment format, and we’re already looking forward to running even bigger MILEs with major partners that will be announced in the future.”
Key usage metrics include:
- Over 100m minutes watched on Rival Peak Facebook pages
- Viewers from >70 countries worldwide. Available in all EFIGS languages, Rival Peak attracted top viewership in the United States, India, Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines.
- Rival Peak and Rival Speak episodes and streams received more than 200 million engagements (reactions, comments, shares, and clicks)
- Users accessed Rival Peak and Rival Speak from devices as follows: Android 84%; iOS 12%; PC/Mac 4% (note that it only became available on iOS at mid-season)
“I’m genuinely proud of the way we ramped up from project proposal, to concept, to execution/production so quickly and so well,” said Dmitri M. Johnson, CEO of DJ2. “Our entire team – including the writers, the talent, and our director – appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the success of this ambitious multi-company collaboration.”
“While we are game developers at Pipeworks, at our core we are creators and inventors,” said Lindsay Gupton, CEO at Pipeworks Studios. “Not too long ago, we wondered how we could leverage the groundbreaking work we were doing in emergent AI and social broadcasting to create a uniquely interactive live experience. From there, Rival Peak was born, brought to life with Genvid’s unrivaled interactive streaming tech and DJ2’s tremendous storytelling abilities.”
About Genvid Technologies
Genvid is helping put the “meta” in the Metaverse by creating the most advanced interactive streaming technology in the world. The Genvid SDK, available for free at www.genvidtech.com, is easy-to-use middleware with enough flexibility to run on any streaming platform and infrastructure. Any game developer anywhere can build their own Rival Peak-like experience with Genvid’s SDK. In addition to enabling Massive Interactive Live Events (MILEs) like Facebook’s Rival Peak, Genvid’s SDK integrates with games built on all of the leading engines to power new kinds and levels of interaction and monetization from players and livestream audiences alike. Genvid was founded in 2016 by game industry veterans and is backed by Horizons Ventures, Makers Fund, March Capital Partners, and OCA Ventures, as well as strategic investments from Huya, NTT Docomo Ventures, and Samsung Ventures.
About Pipeworks Studios
Pipeworks is an imagination-driven development studio armed with a mastery of cutting-edge technology and a deep understanding of the player experience. We are leaders in the realm of Cloud Gaming, Radical AI, Interactive Streaming and so much more. Since 1999, Pipeworks Studios has been quietly developing best-selling games and beloved game franchises from deep in the heart of Oregon. Our teams are creating truly unique original IP games alongside our on-going work with key game franchises and outside partners. At Pipeworks Studios, we believe in creating popular, innovative, and unique games that harness the creative spark of our teams and embrace the power of our players and community. WE harness the power of games to CREATE MAGIC across worlds. Discover the magic at www.pipeworks.com
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Full Rival Peak digital press kit available here.
For Press enquiries, click here.
[1] Does not include user minutes spent watching streams or episodes inside the Rival Peak app, which is separate from the FB pages.
