The MTV Video Music Awards have a long legacy of creating unexpected, breakthrough moments in pop culture that resonate worldwide. In 2019, we pushed ourselves to continue to evolve:
- Create new and innovative ways for fans to experience the VMAs
- Reach out to young viewers by connecting with them on their favorite platforms
- Expand our core audience by allowing them to spend more time with the show
Each year, music’s hottest artists unite at the VMAs for an epic night that extends beyond the screen and defines pop culture. Ultimately, the VMAs are all about creating authentic, emotional connections with our fans.
LEAD UP: Raise Awareness
- Catered to superfans by becoming the first brand to announce nominees through a chatbot
- For the first time ever drove fan engagement with daily VMA voting Power Hours, where fans were able to double their votes in limited windows each day. Additionally, used a multiplatform approach to voting that included Twitter & Facebook Chatbot, Amazon Alexa and MTV.com
- Tapped into the VMA vault to resurface iconic VMA moments and create content customized to artists as their involvement in the show was announced
- Kicked off week of show with three social categories (Best Group, Best Power Anthem, Song Of Summer) voted on Instagram Stories, allowing us to tap into dedicated online fandoms
- Deployed a multipronged stunt across TV and social to announce Video Vanguard recipient Missy Elliott that tapped into the famous lyric “flip it and reverse it” from her hit song “Work It” and rewarded her most loyal fans with custom limited edition Missy x VMA apparel
- Worked with Missy Elliott’s team to produce high-performing social videos that explored her music video history, her legendary music industry partnerships and secretly teased to her fans her music video comeback
- Invited fans behind the scenes through exclusive portraits and backstage interviews with performing talent during rehearsals, and encourage talent to connect directly with their fans by going live from backstage on their personal social accounts
THE SHOW: Real-Time Engagement
- The VMA Red Carpet Show streamed live on Twitter, showcasing performances and talent interviews
- Fashion Detail Cam on YouTube & Facebook Live featured a closer look at the best dressed celebs on the carpet
- The VMA Stan Cam, a first of its kind, real-time, interactive experience gave fans the power to choose what they want to see behind-the-scenes on music’s most memorable night
- Best New Artist voting moved exclusively to Twitter for a hashtag battle between the top two nominees, culminating in a live reveal (#VoteBilleEilishVMA claimed the win)
- Audiences at home were transported to the VMA main stage through a Snapchat AR lens that brought J. Balvin and Bad Bunny’s performance to life
- We partnered with Snapchat to produce four VMA Our Stories over the course of 2 days
- Music photographers with varying artistic points of view captured shots of stars backstage: Gunner Stahl, Ravie B, Amy Lombard & John Shearer
- We created a custom Tik Tok effect and #VMAUnlocked challenge
- And of course, real-time coverage across all platforms with cross-brand coverage and support
POST SHOW: Keep Up the Momentum
- We posted the best moments from the broadcast in close to real time on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, which our fans rabidly consumed, driving huge numbers
- Short-form thematic recap videos were posted across social platforms, helping fans to catch up on show moments, celebs’ nights at the VMAs, and more
- The 2019 VMAs were the most-streamed award show in MTV & Viacom history, driving social video views up +89% YOY, engagements up +22% YOY, and watch time up +11% YOY.
- #VMAs trended Worldwide for 12 hours (10 hours at #1) and 13 hours in the US (10 hours at #1). We also had 21 additional trending topics related to the event.
- The 2019 VMAs became Nielsen’s #1 most social cable awards show of the year
- Our refreshed voting strategy increased unique voters by +208% year-over-year, and grew total votes by 2000%!
- MTV had its best week ever on YouTube driven by VMA performances. Missy Elliot’s performance trended for 4 days on YouTube at the #1 spot, totaling over 11M views.
- MTV also had its best week ever on Twitter, driven by the VMAs. Our VMA Stan Cam generated over 7M+ views and inspired multiple press outlets to cover top unexpected moments from the cam (Refinery29, Cosmo)
- MTV Instagram had its best week of 2019, and Voting for Best Group & Song Of Summer led to the highest performing Instagram Stories EVER for Viacom.
- Our #VMAUnlocked campaign on TikTok became the highest performing challenge ever for Viacom, which has amassed over 345M+ views on the platform to date!
Video for 2019 MTV Video Music Awards
