- About: A leading American over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service offering on-demand and live entertainment to tens of millions of US subscribers.
- Products used: Boku Bundling
- Industry: Streaming and digital content
- Regions: United States
- Use case: Bundled subscriber acquisition during a high-traffic live event through a national telco partnership
A major media and entertainment streaming corporation had secured the rights to the biggest live-streamed event in internet history. Millions of viewers would be watching, creating a rare opportunity to turn a single broadcast moment into lasting subscriber growth. The partnerships team chose a strategic telco partner for its reach and high-intent audience, but it still needed an enterprise-grade platform that could connect it to distribution partners through a single integration and remain stable under exceptional activation volumes. All while providing a seamless customer experience.
More than 530K activations were processed through the campaign at 100% platform uptime, and the offer-to-access journey held throughout.
- 27.6M: viewers for the live-streamed event
- 1M+: eligible users shown the bundled offer
- 530K: activations processed (observed)
- 100%: platform uptime across the event (observed)
- 540K/hr: activation capacity for the event
The challenge
Turning a fixed-deadline broadcast into subscribers.
A major media and entertainment streaming corporation had secured the rights to one of the largest live-streamed events on record. The plan was to work with a national telco partner, put a compelling bundled offer in front of the partner’s eligible telco customers, and use a rare broadcast moment to convert peak demand into lasting subscribers.
The operational challenge was in the offer flow. More than a million eligible subscribers would be shown the bundled offer through the telco partner, and everyone who chose to take it needed to move from offer to access quickly, in time to watch. Activations would concentrate around the broadcast rather than spread across a normal day, and the deadline couldn’t move.
As the broadcast approached, the operational risk became clear. A disruption during the busiest part of the window could mean lost conversions, a damaged partner relationship, and a poor customer experience on a highly visible event. The team needed confidence that access rights would be created, activations would complete under load, and any issue could be identified and acted on quickly.
The distribution options each carried drawbacks. A custom in-house integration would add engineering load and incident risk to a fixed deadline event. A reseller model would put distance between the streaming brand and the partner relationship, the subscriber data, and the post-event insights. What the team wanted was a way to run the offer at scale without giving up control of the partner relationship, subscriber data, or post-event insights.
The solution
One integration to distribution partners, built to perform at peak
Boku supported the live-event offer through its enterprise-grade bundling platform, connecting the streaming business to the telco partner through a single integration designed to support multiple distribution partnerships. Built for high transaction volumes and >99% uptime, the platform was prepared for the surge in activations expected around the broadcast. The streaming brand retained control of the offer and commercial terms, while Boku managed the operational work behind the activation journey so subscribers could move smoothly from offer to access.
For this launch, billing and fraud screening were handled by the telco partner, so the streaming business did not need to manage them itself. Boku created the access rights customers needed to activate the offer, processed activations, and managed the subscriber lifecycle and reporting across the event. The streaming brand retained full control of the offer structure and commercial terms.
Our delivery, Product Operations, Customer Success and 24/7 Production Support teams supported the launch. The Delivery team guided the launch, while Product Operations managed offer and change management across the partner channel. During the event, Production Support monitored the connection, with specialists ready to investigate and coordinate resolution if an issue arose. Account managers shared performance insights that could inform future live-event planning.
The results
530K+ subscriptions activated at 100% platform uptime
The live-event offer reached more than one million eligible viewers through the telco partner. More than 530,000 activated their subscriptions during the broadcast window. The platform was sized to support up to 540,000 activations an hour and recorded 100% uptime across the event, with the customer journey from offer to access holding steady through peak demand.
The campaign demonstrated that the same single-integration model designed to simplify partner-led distribution could support an exceptional surge in demand. The streaming brand retained control of the offer while Boku and the telco partner handled the operational work behind it.
For the streaming brand, that translated into measurable subscriber growth through a strategic partner channel, with a lower acquisition cost profile than equivalent direct-to-consumer reach. The event also produced performance insights the team could use to shape future offers and make better decisions about where partner-led acquisition could drive growth next.
FAQs
What bundling platform did the streaming service use for the live event?
The streaming service used Boku Bundling to run the offer through a national telco partner. Boku processed activations, managed the subscriber lifecycle and reporting, and provided 24/7 production support throughout the event. For this launch, billing and fraud screening were handled by the telco partner, so the streaming business did not need to manage them itself.
How many activations were processed during the live event?
530K+ activations were processed during the broadcast. The platform also had capacity for up to 540K activations an hour, giving it the capacity needed to handle the concentrated demand around the event. The figures measure different elements: 530K is the observed total, while 540K per hour is the capacity available.
Why did the streaming service use Boku rather than build a direct integration or use a reseller?
Building a direct integration would have meant a custom build, adding engineering work and risk ahead of a fixed deadline. A reseller would have reduced the streaming service’s control and visibility over the partner relationship, subscriber data and performance. Boku provided a single integration while allowing the streaming brand to retain control of the offer and commercial terms.
How does Boku support activations during high-traffic live events?
Boku Bundling is built to handle large spikes in user activations simultaneously while keeping the customer journey stable. For this event, the platform supported more than 530,000 subscription activations, with 24/7 Production Support monitoring the connection throughout. Reliable delivery protects the customer experience and brand reputation, supports subscriber retention, and helps subscription businesses maintain confidence in key distribution partnerships.
What did the streaming service gain from the bundled live-event offer?
The streaming service gained an enterprise-grade bundling platform built to handle high transaction volumes, with >99% uptime, lifecycle management across activation, billing states and retries, and 24/7 operational support. During the event, that infrastructure supported 530K+ subscription activations while protecting the customer experience, brand reputation and key telco relationship, turning peak demand into measurable subscriber and revenue growth at a lower acquisition cost profile than equivalent direct-to-consumer reach.
