The entertainment company was able to deliver an immersive theater experience during its virtual festival using Grabyo.

Complex Networks, a modern entertainment company that “champions the people, brands and new trends you need to know now and will obsess over next”, postponed its annual ComplexCon event in November to protect the health of the community from COVID-19.

Hosting a virtual festival

In August 2020, the company announced ComplexLand, a first of its kind free, week-long virtual universe that went beyond the traditional remote experience. The gamified event encouraged active participation from attendees, who explored the virtual premises with a customizable avatar.

Attendees enjoyed exclusive drops from some of the most coveted brands, virtual art installations and a theater, which housed musical performances, screenings and panels.

To deliver a high-quality viewing experience in ComplexLand’s Astral Market, Complex Networks turned to Grabyo’s cloud video platform.

Live production for the virtual festival

Utilizing Grabyo’s advanced live broadcasting platform, Grabyo Producer, the company created a playlist of content to play out as a live stream in the theater using branded graphics and mid-roll bumpers to create a schedule of shows with high-production value.

Grabyo’s open platform architecture allowed Complex Networks to deliver the broadcast directly to the ComplexLand microsite, ensuring a low-latency, high-quality viewing experience. The production team was able to work collaboratively on the broadcast from multiple remote locations.

Content included Complex’s own Joe La Puma sitting down with Fat Joe, Lil Yachty and Conceited to debate the sneaker of the year. There was also an exclusive premiere of the trailer for North Hollywood, a film by Illegal Civ’s Mikey Alfred, which was followed by a panel with some of the cast.

“Our aim was to create a sleek and effortless user experience across all of ComplexLand. The way users interacted with every element of the event was vital, and working with Grabyo to stream our video content ensured our virtual programming stream was seamless and top quality. With so many moving pieces throughout the five day event, our production team was able to easily manage the output of our shows while maintaining the look and feel that we wanted.”

Josh Dodd, Manager of Video Operations, Complex

For more information on Grabyo’s production tools can help to power virtual festival entertainment, check out how we support live events.