Case Study: Talk Media achieves over 95% virtual event participation with Subtext

Talk Media virtual event drives over 95% event participation

Talk Media, a Toronto‑based journalism storytelling start‑up, needed to create a live virtual event during the COVID‑19 pandemic that felt as engaging as an in‑person show. Their two biggest challenges were getting people excited to attend and driving real-time interaction between attendees and storytellers. To tackle this, they partnered with Subtext and used its SMS-based audience engagement platform to reach ticket buyers directly by phone.

Using Subtext, Talk Media collected attendees’ phone numbers at purchase and sent targeted texts—prompts, polls and personalized replies—during the week leading up to the show; journalists used audience responses in their performances. The Subtext-driven campaign saw about 40% of subscribers respond in advance, achieved over 95% attendance among Subtext subscribers and delivered a 36.5% average engagement rate, producing a highly attended, interactive virtual event.

Talk Media

Adam Chen

Founder