MUMBAI: The Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE Event was named India’s Most Watched Virtual Music Festival in 2020. This underscores the fact that virtual events are the new normal and a popular alternative for home entertainment. The event on December 30th and 31st, 2020 in NYE featured 6 hours of electrifying music with global headliners KSHMR, Nucleya and other artists and recorded a massive audience of over 3.1 million during the two-day live stream, making history again and again The growing acceptance and popularity of virtual events across India was highlighted.
The virtual event ‘Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE’ achieved an enormous digital reach of over 100 million, experienced phenomenal engagement with over 836,000 fans and reached a milestone to reach an audience of 3,100,000 in the two-day live stream and a record from 2020 to the most watched virtual music festival in India.
The global lockdown caused by Covid-19 forced the entire experience industry to halt, revolve and rapidly change its business model in 2020. The events industry quickly evolved based on creative innovation and technology to prevail against the situation. Percept Live was one of the first in this space, introducing many innovative music IPs in the digital space, including Sunburn @ Home, Bollyboom @ Home, Sunburn Home Festival, Sunburn Campus Chatbox and Sunburn Select “‘and’ Sunburn Campus’ live stream variants to an overwhelming response from fans and sponsors. With the pandemic in many parts of the world and the renewed lockdowns since autumn 2020, everyone was holding safe house parties to ring in the new year. Given government protocols across India and keeping their fans safe, Percept Live chose to work 100% virtual and not limit the Sunburn Festival experience to Goa.
The first virtual edition of Sunburn NYE – “Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE” – offered fans the best entertainment from legendary artists KSHMR, Nucleya, Teri Miko, Progressive Brothers, Sartek and Greff, and offered a 360 degree virtual feeling – Ground Sunburn Festival event featuring a remarkable stage, stunning SFX, vibrant graphics, dynamic LED effects and state of the art live AV streaming streamed in the comfort and safety of fans at home. Sunburn had exclusively partnered with the world’s largest social media platform, Facebook, to showcase the Digital NYE Edition to maximize the reach of a wide geographic fan base around the world.
Top Ranked Music Producer on DJ Mag 100 – KSHMR states, “Sunburn is home to the special show of my life when I put my dadaji on stage in Pune in 2016. It was a magical moment when he saw the power of music, thousands of Fans are dancing and shouting his name, “dadaji, dadaji!” I was glad that even though I couldn’t physically visit India in 2020, I was able to work with Sunburn on a livestream performance that gave me the chance to connect with the people and places that mean so much to me. Just Pitaji India se hai, mere fans bhi India se hai, toh India only dil ke bahut paas hai. ”
EDM artist and producer Nucleya commented, “As an artist in the electronic space, I have had a long relationship with Sunburn and with the transition to digital events it is no surprise that they have been able to get a bang on a show. While we understand that this experience doesn’t completely coincide with the experience of being there and interacting with our fans, it was interesting to try to push the boundaries of what technology can do for us to become a part of this world replicate. Playing the digital version of Sunburn for this issue has its own charm and I can’t wait to see what they have planned when we get back to live festivals! “
Music artist, DJ & producer Teri Miko said: “The digital event Sunburn NYE 2020 brought fans and artists from all over the world together on one platform. That’s the power of music. An unforgettable experience and an initiative of the Sunburn Festival. “
The music producer and DJ Sartek added: “Digital events certainly rejuvenate creatively. This time for the NYE gig, the stage was the biggest I’ve ever seen. It feels great to be able to share your love of music with thousands of people through social media while they are watching from the comfort of their own home. I’m sure our audience was thrilled with the incredible setup that offered a concert experience.
Multi-talented DJ Greff said: “Sunburn was a pioneer in terms of music festivals in India and when things got tough they didn’t hold back to virtually host a full festival! Performing at Sunburn has always been a pleasure, and this virtual festival was nothing less. I was a little worried about the set because I couldn’t predict the mood of the audience, but everything was great. “
Jaya Jamrani, Vice President of Marketing at Castrol India said, “The Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE Event embodies the enthusiasm of Indian youth, which is in line with Castrol’s philosophy that youth are the driving force behind the future. We’re glad we worked with Percept Live to provide a platform for many to celebrate the spirit of music in these troubled times, and the response has been phenomenal! Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE embodies the pioneering spirit for ultimate performance regardless of the odds, and the virtual edition of the Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE event delivered just that! “
Karan Singh, COO of Percept Live said, “The first edition of the ‘Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE Event’ exceeded our expectations. With a worldwide reach of 100 million and an audience of more than 3.1 million fans, Sunburn’s first Virtual NYE Festival can be described as a remarkable success. The phenomenal feedback from our fans on the virtual technology used, the artist line-up and the surreal festival atmosphere that was created online confirmed our belief that this is the future of home entertainment. We are very grateful to our artists and our partner Castrol who believed in us and supported us in our innovative digital NYE endeavor. While nothing compares to the thrill of getting together on location and celebrating some musical extravaganza in New York, the record breaking digital numbers seen on our virtual New Years live stream confirm the fact that digital and hybrid events are happening are here in the long run. “
