What do Marshmello and Demi Lovato performing live at the Troubadour, Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith’s virtual basketball camp and the Hyundai Elantra Global Reveal all have in common?
The same company was behind all these experiences. It’s called Bulldog DM and it uses its expertise to deliver custom livestream experiences from brands and entertainers to dozens of platforms.
These streams racked up more than 61 million total views and resulted in an average watchtime of 41 minutes per unique viewer on Bulldog DM-powered, whitelabeled client microsites over the past 12 months.
How did we get here? Founder John Petrocelli tells Mundane it all started when he was working with Prince.
“I was in tech for a long time and was very focused on issues like anti-piracy and content security. I was approached by Apple and they said ‘Prince is interested in knowing more about how to protect his content and would like some help’”
Imagine the trepidation!
“I was a lifelong Prince fan so I was beyond excited to work with. One day (this is about 15 years ago when anti-piracy solutions were a lot more complicated and harder to implement than now) I took a file of Purple Rain, I encrypted it and sent it over to his team for approval. I got an email in the middle of the night from Prince himself that said ‘this exactly what EYE want 2 do. That’s actually how he communicated on a day to day basis!”
Long story short John created the first direct to consumer, artist-owned and operated music store in history. He filled it up with singles, vidoes, full length records and more.
“After that he said he wanted to sell tickets for his upcoming tour to his fan club so we implemented a system to reserve the first 5 thousand tickets or so to fans who had to authenticate their identity with their credit cards and ID. We both created an exclusive experience for his most devoted fans and circumvented people buying bulk tickets and reselling them illegally.”
Fast forwarding to 2020, Bulldog DM powered events with Jennifer Lopez, J. Balvin, and Reba McEntire, to name a few, and worked with brands from AT&T to Hyundai to Gillette.
It helped the independent member venues of the National Independent Venue Association raise much needed funds, ran a virtual basketball camp with NBA and WNBA players, made sure New York City high school graduates had a streaming ceremony to remember, and encouraged young women to consider STEM careers in partnership with the Ad Council.
All thanks to the priceless knowledge accumulated by John over the years. Which allowed him to become the pioneer and precursor of the booming phenomenon we call ‘live streaming”
“Live Streaming has exploded but the learning curve to deliver a high quality, seamless experience is still high,” notes John Petrocelli, Bulldog DM Founder and CEO.
“Our approach of creating custom livestream destinations unique to each client means no two experiences are ever the same.”
Growing business 320% over the previous year, Bulldog DM capped off 2020 powering TikTok’s New Years Eve livestream, broadcasting 20 streams across 13 time zones. The experience from that show was paramount to pulling off the Justin Bieber “Journals” Valentine’s Day 2021 show, the most watched livestream of all time by a single artist on TikTok.
In an era where capturing and maintaining audience attention is more challenging than ever before, Bulldog DM’s custom approach ensures audiences remain engaged for longer, resulting in an average watchtime of 41 minutes per unique viewer on Bulldog DM powered white-labeled client microsites.
Unique tools such as broadcasting in stereo quality and feeding high quality livestream footage directly into Instagram Live ensure a premium experience, additional key drivers of average watch time.
By carefully considering the right talent, distribution platforms, and interactive features for every event, Bulldog DM sets the standard for keeping more viewers engaged for longer. For 2021, the company is continuing bringing its bespoke approach to livestreaming.
A chief focus is growing its market-leading best practices in the live shopping space, which is ripe for never-before-seen programming. No matter the client, Bulldog DM’s primary goal remains powering experiences that turn fans into participants.
It all started with John working with Prince and watching him perform while thinking ‘there will come a day when I will be able to tell my friends what I’m experiencing right now
