Over the years, livestreaming platforms have become a crucial segment for entertainment media to market their products. We saw another example of this recently when Prime Video partnered with popular Twitch star William "willneff" Neff to celebrate the upcoming release of Play Dirty by bringing in the movie's hero, Mark Wahlberg.
The marketing strategies of TV shows and movies have increasingly become reliant on content creators, thanks to their rise in fame and influence. As seen in Streams Charts' series ranking sponsored streams, production houses regularly collaborate with top streamers to push an upcoming release.
Prime Video and Mark Wahlberg's collaboration with willneff falls along those lines, as they look to promote Play Dirty. It is a thriller/action flick where "a group of thieves plans to rob a billionaire and his army to retrieve a sunken treasure worth a billion dollars, only to stumble onto the heist of a lifetime that pits them against the New York mob."
Play Dirty will be released by Amazon MGM Studios on Prime Video on October 1, 2025. The movie is based on the "Parker" series of books written by Donald E. Westlake under the pen name Richard Stark.
Will Neff and Mark Wahlberg came together for a fun-filled and relaxed livestreaming session on September 28 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The two talked about the upcoming movie, enjoyed burgers together (named after the upcoming release), and video games, with the Oscar-nominated actor revealing his love for old-school titles like Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga.
Incidentally, Wahlberg also got to promote his Wahlburgers casual dining burger restaurant and bar chain. After all, the burgers they tried out came straight out of one of the many food trucks that Wahlberg owns across the United States.
After chatting for about 15 minutes, Will Neff left Mark Wahlberg to his wares as he headed into the stadium for a New England Patriots game. The popular influencer even went merchandise shopping live, although he made the final purchase away from the live camera to preserve his privacy.
Overall, the livestream hit 6,193 Peak Viewers over around 50 minutes of airtime. However, more than the audience numbers that it hit, it proved once again how intrinsically related the entertainment and livestreaming industries have become. Some might even say that, in 2025, the latter is a big segment of the entertainment industry, reiterated by the fact that so many streamers have become household names globally thanks to their content.
As more and more big companies link up with livestreaming services and prominent streamers to boost the visibility of their product, we are bound to see more collaborations like the one between Will Neff and Mark Wahlberg. This is especially true for movies, sports personalities, politicians, musicians and TV shows, as their release and distribution patterns are increasingly favoring platforms like Twitch and Netflix.
We have already seen Kai Cenat host the likes of Kevin Hart, LeBron James, and Nicki Minaj, while Adin Ross went as far as to host the current President of the US, Donald Trump, during his Kick days. Such star appearances help both parties by introducing their respective audiences to new faces, which is ultimately what these collaborations set out to do.
It will be interesting to see how this ecosystem looks in a few years, as livestreaming continues to grow and become part of the mainstream entertainment lexicon. Until then, we can enjoy moments such as those shared by Willneff and Mark Wahlberg as they push the boundaries of what is possible in content creation in 2025.
