BuzzFeed: We Did It, America!

Producing BuzzFeed’s First Live Election Night Special

6.8MUnique Viewers

244KPeak Concurrent Viewers

6 HoursLive Election Night Special

12Camera Production

In This Case Study:

Services
Challenge
Solution
Impact
Deliverables
Key Information
Photo Gallery

BuzzFeed News brought in BMG to provide technical management, consulting, and live production support for We Did It, America!, a six-hour special covering the 2016 Presidential Election.

The program streamed live exclusively on Twitter from BuzzFeed’s New York City headquarters and marked BuzzFeed’s first live production event.

BMG designed and built the temporary production infrastructure inside BuzzFeed’s office, supporting a 12-camera show with panel discussions, one-on-one interviews, live polling and analysis, remote correspondent check-ins, lighting, front-of-house audio, comms, graphics, playback, and live streaming.

The broadcast ultimately reached 6.8 million unique viewers, making it the most-viewed U.S. election-related livestream on Twitter at the time.

The Challenge: Building a Live Election Special Inside an Office

BuzzFeed wanted to produce a full election night special with the core elements of a traditional broadcast, but tailored to its audience and streamed live to Twitter. The production had high visibility from the start. It was part of a first-time live partnership between BuzzFeed and Twitter, and it needed to support a young, mobile audience watching election coverage in a new way.

No Permanent Production Environment

The special originated from BuzzFeed HQ in New York City, where the offices were spread across the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th floors.

BuzzFeed had never produced live content before and did not have an existing production facility inside its headquarters. Because of the building layout, bringing in a traditional mobile unit was not feasible.

BMG had to create a temporary control room environment inside the office itself.

Limited Building Infrastructure

BuzzFeed’s office did not have enough dedicated power to support the full technical setup.

To solve that, the production required a dual generator at street level, permitting, parking coordination, landlord clearance, and cabling routed up the side of the building.

A Six-Hour Show With Multiple Live Elements

The program included panel discussions, one-on-one interviews, polling and analysis, remote correspondent check-ins, notable guests, and a small in-house audience.

That required a production design that could support studio-style coverage, remote guest integration, audience-facing audio, lighting, graphics, playback, and real-time coordination across a long live window.

Buzzfeed We Did It America Ben Carson interview

The Solution: A Temporary Broadcast Operation Built at BuzzFeed HQ

BMG worked with BuzzFeed to map the show’s creative and technical requirements, then designed a production workflow that could operate inside the office environment.

Technical Consulting and Planning

Before the event, BMG consulted with the BuzzFeed team to define the major components of the show and determine how the production could be executed from headquarters.

The planning process covered technical design, staffing, power, cabling, remote guests, camera coverage, lighting, front-of-house audio, graphics, playback, and live streaming requirements.

Flight Pack Control Room Buildout

Because a mobile unit could not be used, BMG procured and installed a temporary flight pack spread across two conference rooms.

The setup included the core components typically found in a mobile unit or studio environment:

Production switcher
Audio console
Chyron graphics system
EVS record and playback system
Communications
Camera control units

This gave BuzzFeed a complete temporary production control environment inside its own office.

12-Camera Production

BMG captured the special with a 12-camera setup designed for the different parts of the show.

The camera package included:

Three pedestal cameras
Three wireless handheld cameras
Six POV cameras

This allowed the production to cover panel discussions, interviews, host moments, analysis segments, audience reactions, and movement throughout the office environment.

Remote Correspondent Integration

BMG engineered and integrated remote contributors using NewTek TalkShow.

BuzzFeed correspondents checked in from Los Angeles, London, New York, and Missouri, capturing reactions from the public both nationally and internationally.

Power, Lighting, Audio, and Streaming

BMG handled the production power plan, including the dual generator, permitting, street-level placement, and building cabling requirements.

The team also provided lighting design, front-of-house audio for the in-house audience, technical staffing, production management, and the live production infrastructure needed to stream the six-hour program to Twitter.

Impact

We Did It, America! reached 6.8 million unique viewers and became the most-viewed U.S. election-related livestream on Twitter at the time, surpassing Twitter’s U.S. political convention and presidential debate livestreams.

The broadcast drew an average minute audience of 165,000 global viewers and peaked at 244,000 concurrent viewers. It also reached the type of audience BuzzFeed and Twitter were built to serve, with 83% of logged-in live viewers under the age of 35 and 73% of all viewers watching on mobile devices.

BMG’s role was to build the temporary live production environment that made the six-hour program possible from inside BuzzFeed’s headquarters. The flight pack approach gave BuzzFeed the functionality of a studio or mobile unit without requiring a permanent facility or truck setup.

For BuzzFeed, the result was a large-scale live digital election special built around its audience, its brand, and a first-of-its-kind streaming partnership with Twitter.

Deliverables

Technical execution of a 6-hour election night special

Technical design, engineering, and build-out of all on-site resources

Creative and technical consulting

Full production staffing and management

Full lighting design and installation

Production power, cabling, and permitting

Live remote coordination with 6 correspondents

Front-of-house audio infrastructure

Live streaming and transmission coordination

Key Information

Category	Details
Client	BuzzFeed News
Event	We Did It, America!
Location	New York, NY
Venue	BuzzFeed HQ
Year	2016
Services Provided	Multi-Camera Production Mobile Units & Flightpacks Production Staffing & Operations Consulting Channel Playout & Transmission Services