Roblox’s ‘In the Heights’ success shows power of platform for brands

The results from Roblox’s latest platform experience further shows the power of the gaming platform for brands interested in reaching gamers in the metaverse. Warner Bros. Pictures’ new “In the Heights” movie musical from “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Crazy, Rich Asians” director John Chu, is a favorite with streamers despite facing backlash for its lack of Afro-Latinx representation. It certainly hit a high note with Roblox players. The “In the Heights” Block Party experience, which lasts until June 20, has seen 9.4 million visits since first officially launching on June 4. It has also been favorited by more than 100,000 players. In a blog post, the experience promised to “bring the music, dance and Latin American culture of the film’s iconic Washington Heights neighborhood to the Roblox universe.” Players were invited to come and dance in a virtual representation of the film’s Washington Heights scenes, take part in painting murals like the characters in the show, watch behind-the-scenes videos such as a dance tutorial from the movie’s choreographer, Christopher Scott, and collect exclusive emotes and virtual items inspired from the film through mini-games and scavenger hunts. The peak visitor count, of more than 108,000 concurrents, came through a special virtual flash mob dance that was planned on June 11 and ran on the hour throughout the day where players danced to the “In the Heights” theme song. The flash mob drew over 900,000 players, something that could never happened in the actual streets of Manhattan. “We are thrilled that our community is enjoying being part of the vibrant and creative world of 'In the Heights' and this immersion in the music, art, and dance of the Latin American culture and Washington Heights neighborhood,” said Christina Wootton, vice president of brand partnerships at Roblox in a statement. “With the metaverse comes great opportunity, and we are really excited to have been able to partner with Warner Bros. Pictures to bring the magic of 'In the Heights' to millions of people from all around the world.” It’s the latest success for the platform which has continued to build out brand partnerships over the past year as it matured as a platform, bringing on former Walmart exec Barbara Messing as CMO and going public in March, now with a $50 billion market cap. Other experiences like the “In the Heights” Block Party experience have continued to bring in millions of visitors. In May, Gucci celebrated its 100th anniversary with an interactive virtual “Gucci Garden” experience, where players could roam themed rooms inspired by past Gucci ad campaigns and models and purchase and collect limited-edition virtual items created by RookVanguard. The event saw 19.9 million visits and proved that players will buy virtual items at prices that the real physical products don’t even go for in real life. Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian shared on Twitter of how a virtual Gucci bag sold for $4,115, or 350,000 Robux, the platform’s in-game currency for virtual items to outfit avatars (100 Robux converts to $1). The purse in real life costs $3,400. His takeaway: "Watch this space." A Gucci bag in Roblox resold for 350,000 Robux or roughly $4,115. The same purse IRL costs $3,400.Remember: this Roblox purse is not an NFT and thus has no value/use/transferability outside the Roblox world-yet it's worth more than the physical one.Watch this space. pic.twitter.com/m4WjfC1Eq1— AlexisOhanian.eth 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) May 24, 2021 Warner Bros. has also continued to be an important partner for the platform. The network’s “’Wonder Women’ The Themyscira Experience,” created with DC Comics, has now been visited more than 27.6 million times since debuting on the platform last June. Last November, Lil Nas X became the first major artist to do a virtual concert on the platform through Columbia Records, which saw 33 million views from four performances. Previous partnerships have included a Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player Two” book launch event and a launch party for pop artist Ava Max through Atlantic Records. The Roblox launch party experience was promoted through trailers featuring “In the Heights” cast members, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gregory Diaz IV (Sonny) and Stephanie Beatriz (Carla), on YouTube and across social platforms. Those videos generated more than 400,000 views organically. While “In the Heights” didn’t impress on its opening weekend, there is evidence that it’s performing well with streaming audiences on HBO Max, where it aired at the same time as theaters. Yesterday Variety reported TV analytics provider TVision found the film finished second among the top streaming movies of 2021 through June 13, right behind Netflix’s “Thunder Force.” There are signs, however, that the platform may be stagnating when it comes to new users after seeing a boost during the pandemic when gaming became a favorite activity for those quarantined to their homes. This week, the San Mateo, California-based company released new numbers around its users and spending and revealed daily active users in May fell to 43 million, a one percent decrease from the 43.3 million reported in April. That 43 million stat is still a 28% increase from May 2020. In 2020, bookings grew 171% year-over-year to $1.9 billion, buoyed by in-game purchases and brand partnerships. Last month alone, revenue is estimated to be between $149 million and $151 million. Users are also spending more time playing on the platform. Hours engaged are up 9% year-over-year to 3.2 billion. The platform has recently found itself embroiled in a $200 million lawsuit from the National Music Publishers’ Association for illegal use of music. To address this, yesterday the platform announced a new partnership with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), one of the music publishers mentioned in the lawsuit, to work with the platform for music usage in experiences and virtual merchandise moving forward.

Roblox’s ‘In the Heights’ success shows power of platform for brands

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