Boiler Room approach to cultivating and amplifying a fragmented audience
1. THE BOILER ROOM APPROACH TO
CULTIVATING AND AMPLIFYING A
FRAGMENTED AUDIENCE
Michael Goldstein
Creative digital planner at CHI&Partners NYC
@MickeyG77
2. When TV was first established, advertisers
could reach 40% of viewers with a single ad.
This was because there were only three
channels, so one broadcast message had a
huge reach.
Source: Mindshare Media Data
3. But as time moved on, networks diversified
and exploded in number. Reach went to a
160
120
80
40
0
max of only 12% of audiences.
Networks Ad reach %
1955 1985 2010
Source: Mindshare Media Data
4. In the 50’s, audiences were under a musical
‘taste dictatorship’. People were fed genres
via limited radio stations, as there was no
other source of music discovery.
5. Today that ‘taste dictatorship’ has been abandoned for
genre discovery. People have open access to thousands
of genres of music, as obscure as you can imagine.
8. But what’s good for audiences hungry for
diverse media is bad for advertisers. It’s
harder for a broadcast message to achieve
reach, and with audience interests becoming
increasingly fragmented, it’s hard to deliver
relevant messages at scale.
9. Today, the most effective and relevant way to reach
and engage modern audiences is through
fragmented cultivation and engagement.
10. Today, the only way to reach and engage with
Boiler Room is a great example of how to
cultivate and engage a fragmented audience
modern audiences is with fragmented
audience cultivation and fragmented
at scale.
messages….
11. BOILER ROOM BACKGROUND
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Boiler Room is a live music streaming platform.
They have a focus on underground artists, curating
a party atmosphere with DJs that represent niche
tastes from cities around the globe.
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12. BOILER ROOM BACKGROUND
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They are famous for their signature camera angle.
Featuring the DJ in the foreground with the crowd
behind them, creating intimacy between the DJ and
online viewers as well as conversation on the
trendies in the crowd.
Boiler Room is a great example of how to
cultivate and engage a fragmented audience
at scale
13. They have also done incredibly well at building
loyal audiences.
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7MM+ Monthly Audio and Video plays
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35 mins average time on site
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Boiler Room 1.4MM is a Active great Subscribers
example of how to
cultivate and engage a fragmented audience
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at scale
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Source: Boiler Room
14. What can we learn from Boiler Room about
cultivating a fragmented audience?
Boiler Room is a great example of how to
cultivate and engage a fragmented audience
at scale
15. Boiler Room use underground artists to attract an
online audience hungry for rare content:
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•They play smaller club shows and don’t tour as
much as mainstream artists.
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•They Boiler don’t Room have as is a much great coverage example online.
of how to
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cultivate and engage a fragmented audience
•Their content is harder to find and access.
at scale
16. The events that Boiler Room curates and
broadcasts feature multiple niche DJs who have
small but passionate fans that are far more
engaged than the fans of mainstream artists…
Boiler Room is a great example of how to
cultivate and engage a fragmented audience
at scale
17. ENGAGEMENT BATTLE
AVICII
Facebook Fans: 17.1 Million
Views on recent YouTube set: 326,500
Fred P
Facebook Fans: 29,800
Views on recent YouTube set: 24,875
18. Comparing engagement within fan page platform
0.5
0.375
0.25
0.125
0
Avicii Fred P
Engagement on their Facebook pages (Talking about metric as a % of fans)
Caveat: Whilst this is not a thorough and holistic proof of deeper engagement for niche
underground artists, it is a data point that illustrates the theory
19. Comparing cross-platform engagement
90
67.5
45
22.5
0
Avicii Fred P
Views on YouTube set as a % of Facebook fans
60
45
30
15
0
Avicii Fred P
Likes on YouTube set as a % of Facebook fans
Caveat: Whilst this is not a thorough and holistic proof of deeper engagement for niche
underground artists, it is a data point that illustrates the theory
21. Niche artists enjoy more passionate followings
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•Fans have gone out of their way to discover them
away from mass-streaming services, leading to
an emotional connection.
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•Niche artists with smaller followings feel more
intimate and personal to their fan base.
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•Discovering lesser known artists is a likely brag
point on social media, whereas sharing a well
known artist is not.
22. This means that the Boiler Room audience is far
more likely to engage with and advocate their
favorite content than your mainstream audience.
23. Boiler Room curates lineups of different niche
artists with varied and passionate fan groups.
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So rather than one large ‘blasé’ audience, they
have multiple engaged audience groups.
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24. Traditional audience cultivation and
amplification model
Huge reach
Weak amplification
Mainstream genre artist:
EDM
Mainstream audience:
Low rate of advocacy:
25. Boiler Room approach to cultivating and
amplifying a fragmented audience
Grime Deep Techno ‘Sad Boy’ Rap
Stronger
amplification
Stronger
amplification
Multi-faceted amplification, intersecting a diverse audience, leads
to true cultural impact
Stronger
amplification
Niche Genre Artist:
Niche Audience:
Passion fueled
advocacy:
Smaller
reach
Smaller
reach
Smaller
reach
26. Boiler Room are able to achieve this approach
at scale as they amplify curated events with
real-time streaming.
This ‘in the moment’ approach also increases
cultural relevance to a diverse audience
fragmented by taste and geography.
27. How brands can learn from Boiler Room, some key
lessons:
•Recruit talent based on their search interest rather than
popularity of their content. This will give you valuable
content as it is high in demand, low in supply.
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•Invest in multiple bits of niche content rather than one
broad piece of content.
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•Fragment and deliver messaging and content by
audience, increasing relevance to a diverse crowd.
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