MUMBAI: The ‘Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE Event’ has been ranked as the Most Viewed Virtual Music Festival in India in 2020, reinforcing the fact that Virtual Events are the new normal and here to stay as a popular home entertainment alternative. Held on 30th and 31st December 2020, the NYE event offered 6 hours of electrifying music with Global Headliners KSHMR, Nucleya and other artists, and saw a massive viewership of over 3.1 million over the 2 day Live Stream, therein creating history once again and highlighting the growing acceptance and popularity of Virtual Events across India.

The ‘Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE’ Virtual event achieved a massive digital Reach of over 100 Million, witnessed phenomenal Engagement with over 836,000 fans, and accomplished a landmark milestone of attaining a Viewership of 3,100,000 over the 2 day Live Stream, setting a record of becoming the Most Viewed Virtual Music Festival in India in 2020.

The Covid-19 induced global lockdown forced the entire experiential industry to pause, pivot, and make rapid changes to their business model in 2020. The event industry quickly evolved on the back of creative innovation and technology to prevail over the situation. Percept Live was one of the first movers in this domain and launched many innovative music IPs in the digital space including the ‘Sunburn @ Home’, 'Bollyboom @ Home', ‘Sunburn Home Festival’, ‘Sunburn Campus Chatbox’, ‘Sunburn Select’ and ‘Sunburn Campus’ Live Stream variants to an overwhelming response from fans and sponsors. With the pandemic spiking across many parts of the globe and renewed lockdowns since autumn 2020, everyone turned to hosting safe house parties to ring in the New Year. Given the Government protocols pan India, and keeping the safety of their fans paramount, Percept Live decided to go 100% Virtual and not limit the Sunburn Festival experience to Goa.

The first ever Sunburn NYE virtual edition - ‘Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE’, offered fans the best of entertainment from legendary artists KSHMR, Nucleya, Teri Miko, Progressive Brothers, Sartek and Greff, and provided a 360-degree virtual feel of an on-ground Sunburn Festival event inclusive of a remarkable Stage, breathtaking SFX, vibrant Visuals, dynamic LED effects and state-of-the-art AV live streamed into the comfort and safety of fans homes. Sunburn had exclusively partnered with the World’s Biggest Social Media Platform Facebook to present the Digital NYE Edition in an effort to maximize reach to a wide geographical fan base around the world.

Top ranked Music Producer in the DJ Mag 100 – KSHMR states "Sunburn is home to the most special show of my life, in 2016 when I brought my Dadaji up onstage in Pune. It was a magical moment when he got to see the power of music, thousands of fans dancing and screaming his name: "dadaji, dadaji!" I was happy that even though I couldn't physically visit India in 2020, I was able to partner with Sunburn on a livestream performance which gave me a chance to connect with the people and place that mean so much to me. Mere pitaji India se hai, mere fans bhi India se hai, toh India mere dil ke bahut paas hai."

EDM Artist and Producer Nucleya commented, “As an artist in the electronic space, I've had a long relationship with Sunburn and with the transition to digital events, it's not surprising that they were able to pull off a banger of a show. While we understand that this experience does not fully match up to the experience of being on-ground and interacting with our fans, it's been interesting to try and push the limits of what technology can do for us to replicate a part of that world. Playing the digital version of Sunburn for this edition has had its own charm and I can't wait to see what they have planned for when we return to live festivals!”

Music Artist, DJ & Producer Teri Miko said, “Sunburn NYE 2020 digital event united fans and artists from all around the world together on one platform. This is the power of music. An unforgettable experience and initiative by Sunburn Festival.”

Music Producer & DJ Sartek added, “Digital events are creatively rejuvenating for sure. This time for the NYE gig, the stage was the biggest one I’ve ever seen. It feels great to have been able to share the love for music with thousands of people through social media, while they watched from the comfort and safety of their homes. I am sure our audience was delighted with the incredible setup which gave off a concert experience.

The multi-talented DJ Greff said, “Sunburn has been a pioneer in terms of Music Festivals in India and when the going got tough they didn’t hold back to host a full-fledged Festival virtually! Performing at Sunburn has always been a treat, and this virtual festival was nothing less. i was a bit anxious about the set because I couldn’t anticipate the mood the audience would be in, but it all turned out great.”

Jaya Jamrani, Vice President – Marketing, Castrol India said, “The ‘Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE Event’ embodies the enthusiasm of the youth of India which is in sync with Castrol’s philosophy of the youth being the driving force for the future. We are glad that we could partner Percept Live to provide a platform for many to celebrate the spirit of music in these tough times and the response has been nothing short of phenomenal! Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE epitomizes the pioneering spirit for ultimate performance, no matter the odds, and the virtual edition of the Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE Event has delivered just that!”

Karan Singh, COO, Percept Live said, “The premiere edition of the ‘Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE Sunburn NYE Event’ surpassed our expectations. With a massive global Reach of 100 Million and a viewership exceeding 3.1 Million fans, Sunburn’s very first Virtual NYE Festival can be labelled a remarkable success. The phenomenal feedback received from our fans on the Virtual Technology employed, Artist line-up and the surreal Festival atmosphere created online reinforced our conviction that this is the future of Home Entertainment. We are extremely thankful to our Artists and our Partner Castrol who believed in us and supported us in our innovative digital NYE endeavour. While nothing compares to the thrill of coming together and celebrating a NYE musical extravaganza on-ground, the record-breaking digital numbers seen at our New Years virtual live stream reinforce the fact that Digital and Hybrid events are here for the long haul.”