How DICE collaborated with Universal to put two standup giants on a global stage

Universal Pictures Content Group were looking for new ways to engage with audiences and distribute content. Pursuing an exclusive streaming experience, they teamed up with DICE to create a series of global events that would get audiences laughing during the pandemic. 

With the pandemic keeping audiences at home, Universal Pictures Content Group wanted to share their amazing never-before-seen content in a new and exciting way. ‘Dr Cosmos’ (a stand-up special by Dylan Moran) and ‘Wunderbar’ (a stand-up special by Eddie Izzard) were ready to be shared, and with DICE’s expertise in the streaming market, Universal Pictures Content Group wanted to explore a new route to market. 

Charlotte Chester, Commissioning Director at Universal Pictures Content Group, had a clear idea of what the business was looking to achieve. “We approached DICE with a technically-demanding project for which we were keen to find the right partner”, she said. “Security concerns around streaming were paramount. Our priority was finding a streaming solution that would be robust enough to host global streams locked to each region.”

The technical requirements of the streams would be handled by the team at DICE, who were well accustomed with pay-per-view streaming. Individual, geo-blocked streams were created for each territory and time zone. This would prevent audiences in the wrong territories from purchasing tickets for streams outside their territories. 

An additional Q&A offering for Eddie Izzard’s stream was added, and the live filming and production was coordinated by DICE. Fans were able to purchase standard streaming tickets for £10 and tickets with access to the Q&A session for £12. The team at Universal Pictures Content Group tracked sales on DICE’s event creation platform MIO. With clear insights to purchasing behaviour, their marketing cost was optimised to target audiences in the online spaces where most tickets were being bought.

Fans responded well to the events, buying 8,000 tickets globally. Eddie Izzard’s ‘Wunderbar’ Q&A tickets accounted for 30% of total sales, indicating a desire for more personalised and exclusive content from fans. 19% of fans buying tickets for Dylan Moran’s ‘Dr Cosmos’ had previously bought comedy live streaming tickets, showing a willingness from comedy fans to engage with premiere live stream events. For both events, sales uplifted dramatically on the day of the streams, which fell in line with DICE’s data about stream purchasing behaviour.

“DICE were a fantastic partner from the outset and we were pleased with the support and communication we received from the team throughout the experience”, said Chester. Now, the team at Universal Pictures Content Group have the data they need to inform their future live streams, and they will always have a partner in DICE.