Social influence went center stage during the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards to give fans what they craved: unprecedented access and personal control over who and what they saw next. Leveraging micro-blogging on Twitter, fans commented, reacted, and shared their way to selecting what was captured and broadcasted during the live show, while simulcasting bonus content on Twitter. The power of thousands of star-struck fans commanded the show was game-changing for TV. Social media drove live viewership by placing our audience inside the show and engaging with the stars.

Most audiences think they know what to expect from award shows, and there's less urgency to tune in live when they can catch up anytime on-demand, or on social media, and seemingly miss none of the excitement. With awards show ratings declining, we set out to re-energize our live tentpole event for the 2019 Video Music Awards. But how could we engage with fans, across screens, knowing that younger audiences must be met with personalized content to win their attention? Not an easy task, even with social media, given market-level, organic conversation declines between 40-45% in the competitive award show set.

The VMA StanCam democratizes the experience of an award show by letting the fans vote on what appears on Twitter, real-time. We empowered the audience to co-create their own live stream experience by allowing fans to choose what they see. As an evolution of traditional behind-the-scenes award show content, this custom experience lets fans focus on their favorite VMA stars’ reactions during performances and allowed them backstage to serve up questions and requests as talent roamed the venue. In select VMA performances and show moments, we asked followers to vote who among three celebrity audience members they would like featured on a live-reaction cam. We provided a bonus vantage point to share moments that could only be seen if you were sitting right next to these celebs.

We put the fans in the driver's seat by letting them "stan" their favorite celebs during the first-ever awards show designed to be an inclusive party, rather than an exclusive one. Twitter is the home for live cultural conversations and the perfect place to play this out. By baking a participation layer into the show, we drove audience engagement in real-time, creating a way for fans to feel a part of the experience. Celebs backstage and in the audience, in effect, spawned side stories amongst casts of characters, which brought fans and stars closer together of spontaneous, personable, and intimate moments. Audience insight drove content and increased the opportunity for viral success, as fans and celebs alike created reaction clips and memes, which snowballed and became the top shared pop culture.

A few days ahead of the live broadcast, the @VMAs and @MTV Twitter accounts teased the innovative #VMAStanCam, and let the fans know that this would be a VMA unlike any other. With ten dedicated cameras in the venue, including two roaming backstage crews and three focused on celebrity seating, the StanCam is ready to roll. We created a series of 15 polls throughout the broadcast, playing off trending moments and asking fans to weigh in on whose reactions they wanted to see. In-show vignettes let viewers know they can catch a more intimate look at the action running parallel on Twitter. After each poll, we delivered on fan requests with short-form live streams. Camila Cabello rocked out to Taylor Swift's world premiere performance, we convinced CNCO to harmonize backstage, caught up with Lizzo post-performance, and more.

We created 22 original live streams full of buzzworthy moments, genuine interactions between artists, and let the fans run the show. During Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello's standout performance and near kiss, fans weren't just watching the linear show footage; they were co-viewing Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner's enthusiastic reaction on the StanCam, which Jonas later shared with his followers earning +8M views. Outlets like People Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Us Weekly, and ET pushed VMA and StanCam content to the forefront globally. StanCam live streams clocked 7.1M views, while overall views on Twitter day-of and day-after show soared +439% YOY. VMA social video views grew +69%, and engagements increased +10% YOY, making it the best performing award show on social in Viacom history. Total views of the show increased +37%, and minutes watched grew +20%. StanCam helped drive 45M digital views, +200% YOY, with 81% engagement on Twitter.