#LEAwards 2021 highlight: Viu launches horror nights with dream results

With all the horror of COVID-19 over the past two years, you might think that we would all be in need of some light entertainment such as a good-old-fashioned romance or comedy – apparently not. One company set out to prove just this. And for its daring venture, Viu along with its agency Bread Butter Bacon won gold for Best Use of Advocates at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Loyalty & Engagement Awards 2021.

Viu is known for its wide variety of Asian entertainment with a stronghold on K-dramas. Horror has generally not been a top popular genre on its platform. But it decided not to let history stand in its way with its TV show Sell Your Haunted House starring Jang Nara and Jung Yong Hwa. The series follows an exorcist real estate agent. She performs exorcisms on haunted properties and joins hands with a con artist to unearth a secret.

Challenge

As a horror K-Drama, Sell Your Haunted House had several obstacles to overcome. Top-performing K-dramas had always been in the romance genre, so how could it break through the perception barrier? Horror generally does not perform well on Viu, and the show was not highly anticipated so how could it generate buzz and get fans excited. Also, on-ground activations have been hard to organise because of COVID-19, so with a purely digital approach how could it create an experiential event online? The objective for Viu and Bread Butter Bacon was to drive viewership for Sell Your Haunted House.

Strategy

Viu had a look at some of the consumer insights on fans of the horror genre. In a 2018 survey by the American Psychological Association, one out of two respondents indicated enjoyment of horror media. Another study by a University in Finland reported that 72% of people watched at least one horror movie every six months.

From these insights, Viu realised that horror was a genre that needed to be experienced, and the COVID-19 pandemic had also created a unique opportunity where Singaporeans are working from home and staying indoors. Increasingly, they are seeking an outlet to de-stress and be entertained. What better way to provide some form of escapism than with a good old ghostly experience?

With these factors in mind, Viu created the “Survive the Night Haunted House Challenge”. It was a hybrid digital and physical experiential activation that was a first-of-its-kind by an OTT platform in Singapore.

To amplify audience participation and positive word of mouth it used three avenues:

1. A casting call was put out on Instagram Stories to recruit die-hard Viu-ers to participate in Survive the Night;
2. Key opinion leaders were also engaged to publish Instagram posts and conduct Instagram Live sessions to promote the event and driver conversions in a direct, yet engaging way; and
3. Facebook Live was also used to allow regular Viu-ers to bond as a community while vicariously experiencing Survive the Night.

To boost engagement and drive loyalty, it invited three specific groups to participate in the challenge – Viu-ers its most enthusiastic fans; top-tier mainstream media AsiaOne; and social KOLs: SGAG, Tosh Zhang, Nicole Chang Min, and more. The entire challenge was also streamed on Facebook Live, allowing viewers to live vicariously through the participants, and experience the Haunted House from the safety of their screens.

Execution

To drum up excitement and engage with the existing customer base (Viu-ers fans), it put out a casting call on social media to recruit participants for the challenge. It also engaged the help of AsiaOne, a prominent member of the mainstream media to lend credence to the event.

To amplify the communications, Viu engaged the help of KOLS with a significant online presence to create engaging content. This allowed it to greatly increase the campaign’s reach. With two teams of three members and a paranormal expert, the event was ready to go on Facebook Live.

The challenge was as follows: Enter the four spooky rooms filled with life-sized mannequins, a cupboard that opens itself, wrapped-up dead bodies and more; find the secret code (they searched the rooms for secret envelopes); unlock the iPad (for the final challenge – only to be surprised by a jump scare!; and escape the house (a ghostly encounter to end the night).

The fans experienced the haunted house virtually on Facebook, and to keep them watching until the very end, viewers were incentivised to stay on with the chance to win attractive prizes.

Results

It was Viu’s most successful Facebook Live event ever. Compared with last year’s live event there was a 300% increase in video views; and >19,000 total lifetime video views (a 955% increase). And the horror spread to Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and beyond. After the success of its Facebook Live event Viu didn’t stop there. The response from the generic community yielded fantastic results. But it wanted to go one step further by reaching out to strategically targeted communities.

Viu also specifically targeted the Malay community because it saw an increasing appetite for horror within the demographic online. This was shown through the popularity of channels such as SUSU TVC (20,800 subscribers) and True Horror Stories (115,000 subscribers).

Hence, it worked with TehTarik.sg in collaboration with Siapa Lebih Berani (Who is braver?), which had two popular Malay KOLs review horror shows on Viu and facing off to see who was the braver one. The twist? "Ghosts” appearing at unexpected moments to scare them, capturing their real organic reactions! The TehTarik.sg video episode one attracted more than 49,000 views.

Results

For the first time ever, a horror show surpassed a romance drama, with Sell Your Haunted House amassing more than 1.5 million views compared to The Long Ballad which had more than 670k views. The campaign also helped push Sell Your Haunted House to the top spot on Viu. 

Other results included top three for the full 12-week run; number one for six consecutive weeks; and 1.5 million views since its premiere. While the effect from campaign activities drove premium subscriptions with more than 200% increase in premium sign-ups.

In terms of PR coverage, the campaign reached an overall PR reach of 4.7 million with a total coverage value of SG$497,174.82. Significant PR value was achieved through a wide coverage of the Sell Your Haunted House K-drama on Viu by major media outlets. These included The Straits Times, Zaobao and Yahoo Style.

The haunted house challenge was also covered by lifestyle websites such as HalluSG and The Seoul Story; and the campaign was mentioned in 41 clippings from sources such as 8 days, U Weekly and AsiaOne – all proving that with the right marketing horror can be a hit genre on Viu.