LiveU Solo Takes the Stage as Exclusive Live Streaming Solution for Obie Awards via Facebook Live

The Situation

Theater goers enjoy attending Broadway and Off-Broadway shows because the performances bring stories to life through music, dance, dialogue, lighting, set design, costumes, and makeup. What they don’t always get to see is what it takes behind-the-scenes to make all this happen.

The Obie and Tony Awards are a culmination of the year’s best work on Broadway and Off-Broadway. The American Theatre Wing and Serino Coyne, a New York-based advertising agency dedicated to live entertainment, utilized live streaming technology to bring theater buffs alike an up close look at the red carpet, show coverage, interviews, and the actual award shows via Facebook Live.

The Solution

Serino Coyne partnered with LiveU Solo to live-stream the excitement of the award season, conducting several short live streams leading up to the awards shows and then hosting several streams on the red carpet and throughout the shows featuring interviews with popular stage actors. Serino Coyne also hosted two and a half hours of coverage through the Obie Awards’ Facebook page.

Even in the most unpredictable network conditions, LiveU Solo’s ‘plug and play’ live streaming portable encoder delivered, taking multiple signals and bonding them together for consistent bandwidth. As the exclusive platform, LiveU captured the award presentations, speeches, and performances of the Obie Awards.

Results

The 61st annual Obie Awards, hosted by Lea DeLaria, went off without a hitch in Webster Hall. LiveU Solo illustrated the evening by exploring a performance by Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr. and caught up with Eclipsed’s Lupita Nyong’o and Familiar’s playwright, Danai Gurira. And we cannot forget the memorable “Orange is the New Black” opening number or the encouraging applause for Dear Evan Hansen as it prepared to transition from Off-Broadway to Broadway this fall.

“We were looking for a way to live stream events and interviews to Facebook Live using a professional camera and high-end audio,” said Patrick Mediate, Content Producer, Serino Coyne. “LiveU Solo integrated nicely and gave us the ability to maintain a high-quality stream. We liked the reliability, flexibility, and different options available to retain the stream (hardwired, Wi-Fi, and cellular bonding). These qualities help us deliver a stream that people want to watch and engage with.” 
So What’s Next For LiveU Solo?

For Serino Coyne’s Broadway and Off-Broadway clients, including “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Tuck Everlasting,” the agency will be using LiveU Solo to produce behind-the-scenes set, stage, and dressing room tours with stage actors, Facebook Q&A’s, and red carpet interviews. They plan to live stream on average three times per month while ramping up live stream efforts exponentially during award season.

“Solo gives us the ability to cover these activities and events in a more dynamic way,” noted Mediate. “Theater fans can see the streams live and interact with them. The live component offers more interaction and engagement. And that’s what our clients want. LiveU Solo is exceeding our live streaming expectations.”