The 2015 MTV EMA was the year's biggest international music event, broadcast live from Milan on 60+ international MTV channels. We know that our target audience—young music lovers around the world—are increasingly consuming content on mobile devices. So our digital campaign had to be mobile-forward, offering users across the globe innovative and exciting ways to interact with the EMA sites, app, and social profiles wherever they were.
Our 34 regional mtvema.com sites, localized into 18 languages, were mobile-optimized, and the MTV EMA app, a free download for iOS and Android, was available worldwide and localized into 11 languages. It has been downloaded almost 1 million times. Both the sites and the app offered a rich array of exclusive content including videos, photos, and news updates, as well as the ability to vote for the 2015 MTV EMA winners. Our audience of global music fans are wildly passionate about their favorite artists, and we made it easy for them to vote their hearts out: The app included the ability to set reminders to vote at varying frequencies, and to re-cast your entire vote history with one tap.
On show night, the show, red carpet show, and digital-exclusive backstage show live-streamed on the sites and app, along with behind-the-scenes webcams. Plus, app users with cardboards could be dazzled by a 360° VR stream of the red carpet and main show, with cameras positioned on the carpet and stage, offering a close-up view of performances by artists ranging from Justin Bieber to Pharrell Williams. (Users without cardboards could still pan around the venue on their mobile devices.) We were all about putting music fans at the center of the EMA action so they could experience it from all angles as if they were right there in the audience with their favorite celebs.
But we didn't limit the immersive EMA experience to our owned platforms: The EMAs had strong presence across multiple social platforms, truly meeting our audience wherever they are and bringing them into the action. The MTV EMA Periscope backstage tour saw VJ Becca Dudley connect directly with fans, with their 'hearts' dictating where she would go next; and, as artists came offstage during the show, the account streamed 60-second interviews with them, reaching over 30,000 live viewers. We partnered with Snapchat for a Live Story, which offered red carpet, backstage, and main show coverage. Fans could also use custom EMA geo-filters in their own snaps. We live-tweeted updates and commentary to encourage fans' own Twitter chatter; posted exclusive red carpet and behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram to offer an insider view; and posted near real-time Vine and Facebook videos of the night's most buzzed-about moments to further expand social conversation. And after the show, fans and celebs alike continued to buzz on social media about the epic event they had just watched, contributing to 37 worldwide Twitter trending topics; 400+ local trending topics, and a #1 worldwide trending Twitter topic on the night of the show.
The 2015 MTV EMA digital/social campaign delivered on its goal of meeting fans where they were and making them a vital part of the EMA conversation, via mobile-based platforms. Fans cast 600+ million total votes, generated 309 million social mentions, and devoured videos across platforms, with 54 million views. Thanks to a wealth of exclusive content, mobile-friendly voting functionality, and an immersive night-of-show experience, we connected with millions of millennial mobile users all over the world.
