Behind the scenes of MTV’s EMA 2015 digital push: How Viacom plans to generate ‘social media moments’
From a backstage Instagram Boomerang booth to a VR live-stream, The Drum finds out why the media network’s social campaign for MTV’s flagship international event is its biggest yet
Ed Sheeran and Ruby Rose will host this year's MTV EMAs
In 2014, the MTV EMAs clocked up a record-breaking 389 million mentions across social platforms, this year organisers want that number to pass the 500 million mark.
Speaking to The Drum ahead of tonight’s (25 October) event in Milan, Philip O’Ferrall Viacom’s head of commercial innovation, said MTV were looking to “flow social through the whole experience”.
Diversifying beyond traditional platforms, the group will be one of the first brands to partner with Instagram’s new Boomerang app – allowing celebrities to post exclusive backstage images and video content to the channel.
Also in the pipeline is a live global broadcast which provides access to a 360-degree virtual-reality stream of the show, while a backstage activation with Guitar Hero is set to pit talent against those watching at home through a participative gaming experience.
“We always create this huge influx of interest, now we want to go beyond this and pilot new technology,” said O’Ferrall on the partnerships.
“I’m confident things like this are going to become more and more common place and we want to get in there early,” he added.
A heavy digital push ahead of, and during, the event in 2014 paid dividends for the show’s individual viewing figures, which increased by 17 per cent from the previous year. This time around, a dedicated team of around 130 digital staff will be on the ground – 12 of which will be working from a social media hub in Milan’s Mediolanum’ Forum, as well as dozens of brand ambassadors from Instagram and Snapchat.
Asked what Viacom hopes to achieve through the activations, O’Ferrall noted that engagement, viewing figures and creating a buzz is important, but added that it's all about “creating those social media moments” for fans.
For Viacom though, the investment in digital goes beyond the EMAs. Just this month, the network announced the launch of commercial innovation arm Viacom Velocity, which it says will create data-driven digital and social content for clients across its media portfolio (including Comedy Central, Paramount and Nickelodeon).
O’Ferrall, previously senior vice-president of digital for Viacom has been tasked with heading up the offering and told The Drum that ring fencing some of the group’s digital teams should encourage a seamless way of working alongside the growing list of advertisers who keen to collaborate with the firm thanks to its specific demographic.
“We got to a place where it was obvious that while linear television growth will continue there’s change in viewing dynamics and a change in the way people consume content,” he said.
As reflected in the campaign for the 2015 EMAs, O’Ferrall noted that there has been a great deal of investment in social measurement; in particular sentiment measurement, viral uplifts and engagement with activations.
He pointed towards MTV's Snapchat Discovery channel as an example of this, saying that the business is "extremely happy" with the strength of the product.
"We publish to it every day. We want to keep working with all of our brand partners now to integrate them into that environment, which is kind of a natural progression," he commented.
Viacom is one of the challenge partners for The Drum's Do It Day New York taking place on 2 November.