Submitted by Cloutboost

Not For Broadcast: How Influencers Boost Sales for Indie Game

Cloutboost ran an influencer campaign for tinyBuild's Not For Broadcast full release across YouTube and Twitch, reporting 13 influencers, 1M+ views and 12M impressions.

12Mimpressions
13influencers
1M+views

Case in 60 seconds

Not For Broadcast reached full release into a market Cloutboost describes as crowded with thousands of games competing for attention, and pandemic-related lockdowns had delayed the final chapters, so the launch had to carry news of the ending as well as visibility on three storefronts.

The campaign appears to turn on the fact that a real-time broadcast-editing game cannot be explained in a still or a trailer, because the comedy and the moral pressure only exist while somebody is making the cuts, which is what watching a creator play supplies.

Cloutboost's organizing thesis was to let different creator types carry different arguments about the same game, so that analysis, broad-reach entertainment and console-native coverage each reached an audience the others would not have reached.

Cloutboost enlisted 13 YouTube and Twitch creators ranging from nearly 100K to over 1M subscribers, including Writing On Games for in-depth analysis and 8-BitRyan for reach, arranged two three to four hour Twitch sessions with Northernlion followed by VOD publication on his YouTube channel, and added console-focused creators RGT 85, Spawn Wave and WULFF DEN for the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch launches.

Cloutboost reports 12M total impressions, more than 1M total views and 13 influencers, and states the campaign conveyed the release of the final chapters, boosted sales on Steam and consoles, and re-engaged previous players while attracting newcomers.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Existing players of Not For Broadcast to be re-engaged, and newcomers unfamiliar with the game, reached through gaming audiences that value engaging, narrative-driven games, including console players on PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
Cloutboost identifies the main challenge as communicating gameplay mechanics and narrative style, because a game built on real-time decisions inside a simulated live broadcast resists the static marketing materials the category normally runs on.
tinyBuild's role on the page is as distributor of a game developed by NotGames, so the campaign carried a title the publisher needed to sell across Steam, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch rather than a brand with its own audience.
Based on the available evidence, the campaign assumes players judge a systems-driven game by watching somebody else fail at it, which is why 8-BitRyan's video is described around the funny situations he encountered while editing the news.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Twitch
  • YouTube
  • VOD
  • let's play
  • livestream
  • video

Partners

  • Cloutboost (lead_agency)

Creator role

  • 8-BitRyan — creator
  • Materwelonz — creator
  • Northernlion — creator
  • RGT 85 — creator
  • Spawn Wave — creator
  • Writing On Games — creator
  • WULFF DEN — creator
  • 13 Influencers
  • credible YouTube and Twitch influencers
  • influencers who mainly play console games

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
impressionsTotal # of Impressions 12Mimpressions
influencers# of Influencers 13creators_count
viewsTotal # of Views 1M+video_views

Why Cloutboost's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Casting a single campaign across review-oriented, entertainment-oriented and console-oriented creators lets one game be argued for in three registers, which suits a title whose appeal is narrative for some audiences and situational comedy for others.

  2. 2

    Long-form live play followed by VOD publication, as arranged with Northernlion, gives a mechanics-heavy game the running time it needs to be understood while converting a one-off stream into a permanent asset on a second platform.

  3. 3

    A staggered platform rollout rewards recruiting creators by the hardware their audience already owns, which is why Cloutboost brought console-focused creators in specifically for the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch launches rather than reusing the PC cohort.

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