MTV’s Teen Wolf activation is not the only major social TV integration the network has in store. The network announced that for the MTV Movie Awards they’ll be featuring a category that will be decided via live social voting during Sunday’s broadcast. Here are more details on the announcement and an interview with Colin Helms, SVP of MTV Digital and Michael Scogin VP of MTV Mobile.
Tweet-based voting is becoming a must for any awards ceremony, competition show, or live TV production in general. A few examples from the past year include CBC’s Cover Me Canada, The X Factor working with Twitter for DM-based voting and Fox News and Twitter using #answer and #dodge for a debate. Back in 2008, the cofounders of the Shorty Awards (the ceremony I produce) pioneered this idea by creating an entire awards ceremony, platform and voting algorithm, with tweet-based voting at it’s core.
Here are the major announcements from MTV:
– A first-of-its kind social voting Twitter experience that allows fans to vote for their favorite “Real Hero” (new category) via Twitter hashtag. Voting will begin on Tuesday, May 29th and will continue through the live Movie Awards show with updates shown real time through the night (a first for Twitter).
– Completely reimagined Twitter Tracker visualization that launch in tandem with social voting on Tuesday and continue throughout the live show pulling moments bubbling up in real-time into the feed.
– All Access Livestream that will complement the linear viewing experience with 6 camera feeds and also have some new features like a celebrity red carpet gif flipbook.
– Lastly we’ll be testing a new visualization with Facebook that will be post memorable moments, winners and all the other outrageous activity on MTV’s Facebook page to track likes, shares and comments to showcase the most memorable and popular moments from fans.
Lost Remote: What are the social TV elements for the Movie Awards?
Colin Helms: We have a full 360-degree experience around the Movie Awards designed to connect the audience before, during and after the TV broadcast. All of the experiences we’ve created are social and enhance the social TV experience.
These include an updated version of our Twitter Tracker presented by Sprint; All-Access Live multi-camera behind-the-scenes co-viewing experience, accompanied by socially-enabled chat; and “Watch & Share” functionality that encourages the audience to re-watch and share their favorite show moments shortly after they happen in the TV broadcast. In addition, we’ll feature live, real-time editorial coverage of the Movie Awards weekend that manifests across a half dozen blogs, our Facebook and Twitter accounts, Tumblr, Foursquare, and others.
LR: How are you getting talent involved?
Helms: We engage with talent via our social platforms to help activate fan voting and show tune-in before and during the show. Talent is featured prominently in all of our behind-the-scenes camera views – you’re able to see talent getting ready, in moments before they go onstage, etc. Talent will be able to create animated gifs of themselves on the red carpet which we’ll distribute across our sites and tumblr in a special gif gallery.
LR: What do you think the relationship is between social TV and promoting films to TV audiences?
Helms: Movies – like music or TV shows – are important currency to our audience. It’s something they connect with emotionally, and the way they celebrate their favorite movies are to share and discuss them socially. They want to feel connected to the stars of these movies, and they want to feel connected to other fans of these films – all is what we do with the social TV experience we create around the Movie Awards and the movies that the show celebrates.
Lost Remote: How does social voting work?
Michael Scogin: We’re excited to launch the first-ever live social voting category BEST HERO presented by Sprint, Beginning today through to the live show, fans can vote and track the nominees for the official new category BEST HERO via Twitter using associated hashtags, including: Harry Potter (Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Pt 2, #votepotter), Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games, #votekatniss), Thor (Thor, #votethor), Captain America (Captain America, #votecaptain) and Jenko (21 Jump Street, #votejenko).
Fans will be able to view the results in real time and then mobilize accordingly to ensure their “hero” ends up on top. The winner will be presented with the Golden Popcorn statue during the “2012 MTV Movie Awards.”
LR: What are the updates to the Twitter Tracker?
Scogin: The Twitter Tracker will once again measure social buzz on Twitter and provide an eye-popping visualization. However, this go-around we’re placing the emphasis on show moments. Fans will be able to click on individual moments via a timeline to see how many tweets per minute the moment is generating, read a sampling of tweets, and share images of the moment across their social graph.