Miles Morales and his debut in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse rocked the world with its heartfelt story, immersive action, and groundbreaking animation. Fans were eagerly awaiting to see what was next for Miles. We wanted to give our devoted fans something bigger than your typical trailer release. We didn’t want the trailer to drop. We wanted it to explode!
Our goal was to turn the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer release into a never-done-before global viewing experience where fans and filmmakers could come together to celebrate all the new characters, music, and storylines.
YouTube Afterparty entered the chat.
YouTube is home to over 2 billion daily active users and the Afterparty was the newest feature for fans to get unprecedented access to an exclusive live stream. We’ve seen Afterparty create waves of attention for musical artists to premiere new music videos, but never has it been used to debut a movie trailer. With a trailer as anticipated as Across the Spider-Verse, we knew this was the perfect opportunity to set a new standard for trailer releases with an industry-first YouTube Afterparty Premiere event.
A YouTube Afterparty is nothing without its star – or in our case, stars. Our live trailer event was hosted by Spider-Gwen herself, Hailee Steinfeld. The voice actor was joined by Academy Award-winning Spider-Verse filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
Fans weren’t just gifted exclusive access, they were getting an intimate sit down with the Spider-Verse braintrust. And because YouTube is a community-first platform, fans were connected to the event as if they were in the room, with the opportunity to react live to each exciting moment and chime in with their questions to get the inside scoop directly from the filmmakers. The energy was electric, evoking a feeling reminiscent of some of our most iconic Comic-Con Hall H moments.
Partnering with YouTube was a great opportunity to elevate engagement with their expansive audience reach and deepen the fan interactivity with the unique digital toolset special to an Afterparty. YouTube provided global in product promotion of both the trailer and Afterparty to all users. In case you missed it live, we had you covered. YouTube promoted the Afterparty trailer release globally for three weeks, increasing our viewership by millions.
Spider-Man unites the globe like few movies do. We included the broadest audience possible, localizing additional language versions of the trailer to reach fans in Germany, Portugal and Mexico.
Phil, Chris, Hailee, and our fans joined in to talk about new characters like Jessica Drew, cast announcements, and new music from producer Metro Boomin. The fans were all VIPs to the Afterparty. Want a first look of Jessica Drew voiced by the incomparable Issa Rae? You got it. Want to see what new Spideys are featured in the film? Done. Curious who is going to produce the followup to Post Malone’s iconic Sunflower? We are giving you exclusive access to everything! The event was boomin’ with reveals straight from the filmmakers. Even Hailee was ecstatic to hear what moviegoers can expect to see in theaters.
To increase overall reach and viewership, the Afterparty was promoted across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The official Spider-Verse, Sony Pictures and Sony Animation channels continued support by releasing various clips from the Afterparty and driving additional viewership week after week. Talent support was strong with Hailee Steinfeld, Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Metro Boomin amplified across their combined 33 million followers.
Our YouTube Afterparty was a first-to-market partnership for any theatrical release. Spider-Verse’s Trailer Launch Afterparty had the exclusive feel of an in-person event with global reach and real-time engagement. It was inclusive of fans from across the Spider-Verse and the world.
Organic conversations and earned media were through the roof and catapulted the trailer premiere into the zeitgeist. This was helped by 360 support from Sony Pictures, Marvel, and of course YouTube who tweeted about the trailer to their 78 million followers. Talent and studio social amplification driving to the Afterparty earned an additional 13+ million impressions.
Together with YouTube’s efforts, we launched the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer to new heights. The Afterparty performed 5x more than YouTube’s benchmark, outperforming any pervious Afterparty on the platform. Collectively, the trailer and Afterparty garnered 32.5 million views. Our Sony Pictures YouTube channel also jumped 40,000 new subscribers during this moment alone.
