How Streamers Can Increase Watch Times and Maximize Value for Brands
Delivering great experiences that keep audiences engaged is the name of the game in live streaming, but for sponsored streams it’s also a means to an end. What can streamers do beyond maximizing watch times to keep their brand sponsors happy and ensure a stream succeeds on both critical fronts? John Petrocelli, founder and CEO of Bulldog DM, and Chris Pfaff, founder and CEO of Chris Pfaff Tech Media, discuss in this clip from Streaming Media 2025.
‘Unlocking Watch Time’
Pfaff asks Petrocelli, “How do you engage audiences in ways that really enhance the sponsor investment? Because you guys do a ton in live, and I know recently you did something with Doja Cat?”
Petrocelli confirms he’s correct. He outlines his philosophy after 13 years in this space: “The success for brands is transforming the viewer into a participant. And after hundreds, maybe thousands of shows, that’s what kind of triggers the most success for a brand.” He suggests going about this by integrating activities such as a curated chat and featuring trivia graphics and calls to action. “And what happens in those experiences, the audience will invite their friends to come along and kind of journey with them,” he notes. “There’s also a greater likelihood for them to return. But the key driver we found in working with brands like Coca-Cola, AT&T, Jeep, Nissan, [and] Hyundai is unlocking that watch time.” With attention spans dwindling to only about 8 minutes, Petrocelli says, doing his job properly in a live stream means getting longer and longer watch times.
‘A Completely Engaged Experience’
Pfaff requests more information about the engagements Bulldog DM builds.
Petrocelli responds, “We just did the BET Awards pre-show for BET with McDonald’s. So in that experience, we provided overlays.” He describes how McDonald’s promoted its McCrispy strips by encouraging the NBA finals audience to answer questions about the food item. “We also integrated the brand into a live ticker. We could pull comments from the YouTube chat and integrate that into the broadcast. So that really took it from kind of a passive viewing experience to a completely engaged experience,” Petrocelli explains.
‘The Holy Grail for the Advertiser’
“Talk about the success on that side, particularly from the client,” Pfaff asks. “I mean, you’re working very, very much hand-in-hand with these clients to extend their brands in ways that they might not have really explored before. So how are you bringing in the brand and whatever their exact sponsorship is?”
“You know, what people don’t want to do is kind of slap their logo into a broadcast,” Petrocelli says. “So by turning on those interactive tools, we’re getting to the holy grail for the advertiser, which really is watch time, right?” In some cases, Bulldog DM has been able to give brands like Coca-Cola “a 29-minute average watch time on mobile and almost 113 minutes on desktop based on the content and based on the experience. But turning those interactive capabilities and integrating them into a live stream is what’s really been successful with advertising.”
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