Every year, the MTV EMA is the world's biggest night in music, and each year, our audience consumes content on more platforms. In order to reach them and continue to engage their fandom, our overarching marketing strategy and message was that fans could watch the show EVERYWHERE. Facebook Live gave us a unique opportunity to reach our vast global audience. Our 2016 fans-first campaign set out to connect our followers with artists like never before on Facebook Live.
One of the biggest moments during the 2016 MTV EMA campaign is the host announcement. The morning we revealed Bebe Rexha as our host we surprised fans with an exclusive Facebook Live with Bebe on @MTVEMA, moderated by Sway Calloway, from the coveted TRL studio in the heart of Times Square NYC. Nearly 2M fans tuned in to get to know Bebe (plus her mom!), see her twerk, and receive sneak peeks into who may be performing at the show.
Building off of the success with Bebe, we continued to connect stars with fans in a series of Q&A-style Facebook Lives on the @MTVEMA page to highlight our local nominees worldwide. Top artists, such as big as Little Mix, UK, and Bunkface, SE Asia, answered multiple fan questions as they poured in from the comments section.
The campaign culminated on November 6 with a star-studded live event and immersive digital experiences reaching fans worldwide. Hours before the show started we got fans buzzing by giving them access to the Red Carpet like never before via broadcast-quality Facebook Lives. Fans clamoured to see all the boldest Listerine moments, like a freestyle rap between Shawn Mendes and Jack & Jack and a surprise performance from Anne-Marie. During the commercial breaks, we invited fans to tune into Backstage with èvos via our site and Facebook. The segment hosts Sway Calloway and Becca Dudley interviewed the industries hottest stars – Shawn Mendes, Martin Garrix, DNCE and Jack & Jack, to name a few. Just when fans thought the show was over, we also delivered a Facebook Live stream of Afrojack's after party DJ set along with coverage across Instagram Stories and Twitter.
We brought the audience at home closer to the show than ever before through additional fans-first mobile integrations. In addition to the linear broadcast, the show was livestreamed on the MTV Play international mobile streaming video app, available in 25 markets, as well as the MTV EMA site.
Our 360 virtual reality experience gave fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with 2016 EMA performers, including Bebe Rexha, Shawn Mendes and Bruno Mars, in real time via the MTV EMA App. By placing cameras in the main show, fans from around the world chose where to look, making the show an individual interactive virtual reality experience.
Fans from around the world viewed and interacted with The 2016 MTV EMA's in more ways than ever before, especially on Facebook Live. After nearly 20 Facebook Live broadcasts from around the world we received 10x more social media video views compared to last year's total. Facebook's latest innovation allowed fans to directly ask their favorite stars questions and see exclusive interviews from the backstage. Our 2016 social campaign was engaging and innovative because we connected fans with their favourite stars in a completely new, personal way.
