The MTV Video Music Awards have a long legacy of creating unexpected, breakthrough moments in pop culture that resonate worldwide. And it isn’t just TV – the VMA experience extends across the social and digital landscape where the biggest moments pop and become part of the cultural conversation. On social, we set out to fuel this conversation through authentic, emotional connections - with fans around the globe in the lead-up through to the live event - to drive year-over-year increases in engagements and streams while expanding the global reach of the VMAs.
On every platform and every device, the VMAs were there - launching innovative new partnerships, activating fandoms, covering the show from all angles, and growing the VMAs’ global reach to record levels.
AWARENESS & EXCITEMENT:
Partnered with three Creators to announce marquee VMA categories on our accounts through unique mediums, from digital art to animation to nail art
Fans voted for their fave artists to win a Moon Person on MTV.com, with daily Power Hours that rewarded fans with double the votes
Week of show, we launched two social categories voted bracket-style on Instagram Stories (Song of Summer and Group of the Year)
On TikTok, the first-ever “Trending: VMAs” honored creators and music trends that dominated social media, with in-platform voting, and a livestream featuring awards & performances
VMAs became the first entertainment brand to bring fans a Superhash experience on Facebook
We revived classics from the MTV vaults to celebrate memorable VMA moments
Maintained a steady lead-up presence on YouTube with VMA-themed 24-hour livestreams and long-form VMA-themed compilations
Debuted custom VMA-themed video franchise episodes, including ‘Stan vs Stan’ and ‘VMAnimation’
Released fan-first Social Assets, including an Instagram Randomizer Filter and GIPHY Stickers
MTV tapped into some favorite creators across TikTok and Instagram to make original videos celebrating the VMAs
SHOW TIME! Coverage on EVERY Platform:
We pre-gamed the main event by streaming the VMA Pre-Show live on Twitter and YouTube; featuring performances, interviews and fashion highlights
‘Trending: VMAs’ host Quen Blackwell went live from the VMA red carpet on MTV’s TikTok account
Fans voted in a live hashtag battle to award a Moon Person to their fave Best New Artist
VMA Stan Cam was back: not only did we poll fans on Twitter to show them exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, but we integrated a new backstage experience called #VMAStanMail - celebrating global music fandoms with real-time tweet translations from fans around the world
Three Snapchat Highlight Shows launched over the course of VMA weekend
The show’s best moments were posted in real time across YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok
Celeb photographer Ravie B captured dynamic, candid images backstage
And as always, we featured real-time coverage across all platforms with cross-brand support
After the show, we launched recap videos and bonus content across socials, making sure we were covering the night from every angle - and helping to generate next-day conversation
For the first time ever, the VMAs broke a billion views and fans watched over a billion minutes worth of cross-platform VMA content
Also for the first time ever, the VMAs garnered more social interactions than the Super Bowl, according to TalkWalkers Social Content Ratings
With engagements up over 65% year-over-year, the VMAs continue to put the fans front and center in everything we do
Total votes were up +28% YOY on MTV.com, smashing records for our biggest total vote count in VMA history
#VMAs trended #1 worldwide for 7 hours, with 20 worldwide trending topics
#VMAs trended in 58 markets worldwide and was tweeted about in 56 languages, from 226 markets - highlighting our efforts around engaging global fandoms
The 2021 #VMAs generated over 2 billion impressions on Twitter - a new record for VMAs
