Revry, an LGBTQ+-focused free ad-supported streaming TV service, is building up its original content slate and snagged Nike as a sponsor for Pride Ball - its latest foray into reality competition TV with a series and new category that CEO and co-founder Damian Pelliccione is coining “queer spectator sports.”
Pride Ball, a live vogue ballroom dance competition, premiered on June 18, featuring hundreds of competitors, celebrity judges and teams, or “Houses” facing off in various category battles. Without disclosing specifics, the streaming service said the program is on track to break the Revry viewership record set by Drag Latina in October 2022
The show, which puts particular emphasis on celebrating transgender women of color, already had hair color and styling brand göt2b on board as a sponsor. Following what Pelliccione told StreamTV Insider was a “really explosive” New Fronts this year (with Revry the first LGBTQ company to present), it reeled in Nike with the introduction of the concept for the sporting events league.
Nike was in the NewFronts audience and Pelliccione said the athletic brand was all in, expressing belief in diversity and intersectionality.
“And they’re really focused on queer female voices, however that really is identifying, whether it’s trans and female, non-binary, lesbian, you name it, all different identities within our culture,” they said. “And to have such a huge brand like Nike support this new form of what we are coining as queer spectator sports, it was such a treat.”
Vogue ballroom dancing has made its way back into the culture view, with Pelliccione pointing to the FX series “Pose” created by Ryan Murphy that focused on New York City’s ballroom scene in the ‘80s, as well as HBO Max’s “Legendary” – a reality TV voguing dance competition show.
The idea for the sporting league is to be original and exclusive to Revry, kicking off with Pride Ball as its first function. Pride Ball took place at the NeueHouse Hollywood and is produced by Isla Ebony, a prominent figure in the queer ballroom scene. The competition offers winners cash prizes across different categories, including two $5,000 prizes and the top award at $10,000.
And Revry didn’t go light on production for the live-to-tape show (which is not a livestream, yet), with what was supposed to be a 6-camera effort turning into a 13-camera shoot to ensure, like you would in a sporting event, to get every angle of the competition. Competitors and hosts were decked out in Nike gear and got2b products.
Pelliccione described the set up for the expansion of its queer spectator sports efforts, where Pride Ball features 12 different Houses – similar to teams – that viewers and fans cheer for their favorites as each House competes across ten categories such as fashion, runway, dance, creativity and more. Brand sponsorships are integrated into the categories, such as Nike sponsorship in the “Radical Visibility” category for example, and got2b's sponsorship featured in “Metallics Mayhem” category. And to amp up the sports and competition feel, Revry had its own sportscaster booth, complete with commentators outfitted in headsets giving competition play-by-plays and directions to the audience.
Each “House” has a “Mother” and a “Father” – which Pelliccione likened to a sports manager for a team, with the Mother of each elected to be a judge in the competition. Pelliccione said the ballroom culture is a predominantly Black, Hispanic and Asian competition audience that is very trans-focused and most of Pride Ball’s nine judges are trans women of color.
“That is something you haven’t seen in ballroom, that is something you haven’t seen on other shows, and we were uplifting the trans people of color community in this show, specifically trans Black women,” Pelliccione said, adding that uplifting trans women is happening especially “at a time right now where those rights are under attack.”
The competition celebrating queer ballroom culture comes as several states have enacted laws that limit the rights of LGBTQ people, including banning gender-affirming medical care for minors – though enforcement in some states has since been blocked by U.S. district court judges. Reuters reported that in 2023 lawmakers introduced more than 500 bills affecting LGBTQ people, with at least 48 passing – a figure that’s up from the 315 introduced and 29 passed in 2022.
“It’s really important not just to us but also for Nike to be supporting the community,” Pelliccione said. “They took a real clear stand as one of the few brands that stood out amongst all of the rhetoric during, right now Pride Month, to say, hey regardless, we’re not going to stop, if anything we’re going to support the community even louder and prouder.”
While the inaugural Pride Ball was pre-recorded with brands acting as sponsors, Pelliccione said it represents the launch of a three-hour (including commercial breaks) live sports event. And it reflects the debut of what Revry will end up calling the Ballroom League, which eventually aims to be a true live streamed athletic competition (with talks of an eventual “Super Ball”-style showdown, Pelliccione said). Revry’s planning another Ballroom League function in Q4 that it’s seeking sponsors for now. Next year it plans to hold at least one event per quarter.
“So we’re really building the palpable buzz and getting the advertisers to really come on board,” they said, with the hope that sponsors liked what they saw at the recent Pride Ball airing and want to sponsor the league.
Brands are interested in Revy’s ad inventory, being able to reach a younger and diverse audience (more than 70% of Revry’s audience is under 45, with Gen Z as its strongest standalone demo), aligning with the network and its content, as well as its multicultural certifications that show it's more than 51% diversely owned and operated, according to Pelliccione. They cited these as key drivers – not just for content but on the advertising side, in “getting advertisers to commit bigger dollars to diverse owned and operated.”
Revry counts distribution for its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, which also features on-demand content, across a variety of platforms with Pride Ball featured on Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, Vizio’s WatchFree+, DirecTV, Philo, Plex, Allen Media Group’s Local Now, TiVo+ and on Rakuten TV and rlaxxTV in Europe.
Originals major part of strategy
As Revry gears up to bring queer spectator sports to wider audiences, Pelliccione told StreamTV Insider that originals are a major part of the FAST's strategy.
Of Revry’s roughly 1,000 hours of content, about 90% is currently licensed, with the remaining 10% original production, they said, adding the service is “pushing into more and more original.”
And while Revry is dedicated to content focused on the LGBTQ+ community, its audience isn’t only for that segment of viewers, which Pelliccione views as a positive, with the CEO emphasizing it brings queer culture to a wider audience on the back of an entertaining viewing experience.
“This is bringing culture, and a side of queer culture to the masses, and we’re packaging it and making it fun and exciting to watch,” Pelliccione said. It’s about marrying creativity and competitiveness seen in any other sport league, and focusing it in a way that reflects the LGBTQ+ community.
They indicated that in general sponsors and advertisers on Revry are seeing benefits from the niche streaming service, saying ROIs are exceeding what brands see in mainstream dollars.
For originals Revry is funneling energy into unscripted TV over scripted simply due to the fact that it’s a startup still working to raise capital and leveraging a small team. With original content underwritten by ad dollars the FAST has between at least one and three originals coming out per quarter, with four during June for Pride Month. It has three originals queued up for Q4. And brands are taking notice.
“We find we’re creating shows that aren’t just about different aspects of our culture, but where brands really want to step in. Everything we do is brand safe,” they said.
On the original front, Revry leans into editorializing and developing content around moments, such has Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, as well as Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month – the latter which saw success.
“We did a huge promotion around AAPI month and our numbers skyrocketed,” Pelliccione said. “It was just so exciting to see our community and specifically different intersectionality of our community really look at and watch our content in a big way.”