Beast TV, a live music streaming platform built by UK agency Imagination for Saudi Arabia’s youth audiences, launched last month with a high-tech live stream of the Soundstorm21 festival.
Soundstorm21 took place in Riyadh from 16-19 December 2021 and attracted 732,000 revellers. On behalf of festival owner MDLBeast, Imagination streamed the festival to 107 countries over the four days.
The broadcast featured real-time spatial audio mixes from seven stages, letting virtual music fans feel like they were up close and personal to DJs including Armin van Buuren, David Guetta and Salvatore Ganacci.
Ross Wheeler, business director and head of Live UK at Imagination said: “After working with MDLBeast over the last couple of years, we are incredibly excited to have created and launched Beast TV with the first ever use of live spatial audio during a live streamed festival, and to support the team as they innovate on a global platform and embrace new technologies.”
Imagination built the Beast TV platform for scale, with the ability to stream upwards of one million viewers simultaneously. It now aspires to become an ‘always on’ MTV equivalent in the Middle East, supporting MDLBeast’s ambition to introduce the world to more Saudi youth and creative culture.
Ben Sinden, executive director of media at MDLBeast added: “It’s an incredibly exciting time in Saudi Arabia right now and creating a platform that can share live music in the most technically advanced way is exactly where we want to be.”
