Here’s how a hyper-targeted influencer strategy for Call of Duty League won top honors at the AVA Digital Awards.
When parent company Activision Blizzard Esports (ABE) needed to grow viewership and subscribers for Call of Duty League (CDL), they turned to Viral Nation to convert casual gamers into active fans while driving awareness and hype for official CDL broadcasts.
Call of Duty League (CDL) is one of the most prominent esports league in the world. To convert casual gamers into active fans, Viral Nation orchestrated a complex ambassador program with always-on coverage throughout the entire seven-month season.
We partnered with a variety of established creators in the Call of Duty ecosystem as our ambassadors generated awareness, engagement, and viewership across multiple channels from launch day to Championship Weekend.
During the season-long campaign, eight top-tier creators celebrated the CDL fandom with social content across YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
Our Ambassadors’ coverage was continuous throughout the entire season — representing the CDL brand and league across video, social, interactive mobile games, and official broadcasts.
By bringing their audiences with them and cheering alongside fans, the influencers created an immersive experience that kept engagement and excitement for old and new fans alike.
In gamer slang, “clutch” refers to winning through exceptional performance. And Viral Nation did just that – converting hundreds of thousands of casual gamers into active fans, increasing CDL subscriptions by 32% in a single season, and surpassing ABE’s target by 77%.
With the award-winning campaign driving 429% more impressions than the previous year, CDL Championship weekend was the most-viewed esports event since 2020 – and Call of Duty went on to become the best-selling video game of the year.
