Paramount Global’s MTV EMA is one of the biggest global music events of the year that celebrates the hottest artists from around the world. The MTV EMA brings music fans a unique, multi-platform experience across MTV’s global network in nearly 180 countries and 450 million homes around the world. The 2024 MTV EMA took place in Manchester, England.
The goals for the EMA digital campaign were simple: Drive as many views and engagements as possible by creating a curated experience for our 23 regions that followers would want to watch and share. We connected artists to their global fanbase on social platforms with localized vote content, robust archive and exclusive behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage. The awards, its social presence and its league of global influencers boosted the regional honorees and the work they’ve done this year. From nightly MTV Music Week coverage to exclusive backstage content, the 2024 social MTV EMA campaign was an immersive endeavor for fans around the world. Artists from 23 regions showcased their talents in an impactful way for over 490 million social fans.
The digital campaign at the 2024 MTV EMA was focused on engaging global music fans on social platforms and reaching them in the lead up to, during, and immediately after the show. We strategically used various platforms to engage fans wherever they view content and encouraged them to tune in to the main broadcast.
Creating content that is relevant and localized in dozens of languages makes producing a global awards show infinitely more complicated: localizing text/audio, supporting locally nominated artists in specific countries, and ensuring that key announcements and content are deployed strategically at the same time in every country.
We built — and lived — up to the hype on social by creating a symmetry between our 23 regions through cohesive and localized publishing of MTV EMA brand assets, as well as introducing new content tailored for each region. This dual approach was carried out before the show, during MTV Music Week in Manchester, during the live broadcast and Backstage Pass interviews with talent, and in post-show coverage.
More specifically, our campaign phases included:
1) CURATED PRE-SHOW AND RED CARPET CONTENT:
· We announced the host, performers and presenters in 11 languages and 23 regions.
· Fans voted for 18 Main Categories and 23 Best Local Act Categories through 10 regional MTV EMA websites (I.e. MTV UK, MTV Germany and MTV Spain).
· Fans also voted via Instagram Stories for Biggest Fans.
· The host country’s social account, @MTVUK used Instagram to promote each day of MTV Music Week, which featured local and global artists.
· We created, published and distributed assets from the Red Carpet in real-time to all of our global accounts.
· Photographer Eva Pentel captured unique polaroids with our talent on the ground.
· Instagram Takeovers with social creators such as Hugo Gloss on the red carpet and during the show gave fans a deeper, more personalized view of the EMAs in priority regions.
2) SHOWTIME/ “BACKSTAGE PASS”:
· We streamed the “Backstage Pass” Live Show with exclusive content from the main show talent as soon as they walked off stage. We presented Best Push Act to K-Pop sensations LE SSERAFIM and Biggest Fans to LISA. We rigged the venue with cameras that captured every celeb meet-up and show reactions, while connecting with artists behind-the-scenes! We were live for 3 hours across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and X, presenting the directed stream simultaneously in 16x9 and 9x16.
· When the content called for it, we used cutting-edge technology to provide live graphically-stylized translations to connect non-English language speakers to a global audience (eg. Peso Pluma’s crew translated from Spanish to English live).
· Regions posted localized acceptance speeches on TikTok, Instagram, X and Facebook.
· Global influencers’ award coverage was consistently shared by our regional accounts.
3) POST-SHOW:
· Curated videos were localized for the regions and posted to social accounts, which highlighted the best moments of the night.
· Local YouTube accounts offered shorts of main show performances, so fans could experience the excitement and jaw-dropping displays repeatedly, while @ MTV hosted the full performances.
The 2024 MTV EMA broke records across key categories, including total social video views and engagement. In fact, it was the most social MTV EMA of all time!
· Published more than 7000 pieces of localized video content across dozens of local MTV accounts (e.g. MTV UK) on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.
· Total social video views increased by 108% over the previous show.
· Audience engagement was up 112% across all social platforms.
· Online and social votes were up 46% Y-O-Y.
Our social strategy was effective since we gave regions the freedom to tailor content, while connecting to the campaign’s global message. By offering a blend of custom and complementary content, followers were drawn to our content and given a dynamic yet universal experience.
