Unveils Sponsorship Integrations with Yahoo! and Verizon, Ongoing Relationships with Twitter and Foursquare and VMA-themed Collections in the Rock Band 3 Avatar Store
MTV today announced several innovative digital initiatives tied to the “2010 MTV Video Music Awards” http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2010, including a sponsorship integration with Yahoo! and Verizon, ongoing relationships with Twitter and Foursquare, and VMA-themed collections available at the Rock Band 3 Avatar Store , all aimed at providing fans with unparalleled engagement with the most talked about night in music as today’s hottest artists vie for the coveted Moonman award.
“The Video Music Awards has become the one the year’s biggest nights in music, with MTV.com providing fans an all access pass to exclusive video, interviews, social media interactions and more,” said Kristin Frank, General Manager, MTV and VH1 Digital. “By partnering with industry leaders like Yahoo, Twitter and Foursquare, we’re providing our audience with multiple ways to engage with, discuss and shape the dialog around the show.”
Yahoo! Sponsorship Integration
Building upon the Video Music Award’s rich history of honoring best in class music videos, MTV and Yahoo! unveiled a new video franchise, “Behind the Lens” on MTV.com’s VMA hub that provides fans with a new and immersive experience that takes music video viewing to a new level of engagement. The franchise features five of this year’s nominated music videos: B.o.B’s “Airplanes,” Katy Perry’s “California Gurls,” Jason Derulo’s “In My Head,” Usher’s “OMG,” and 3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha’s “My First Kiss.” Each of the videos appears in a specially co-branded MTV/Yahoo! video player that features various pop-up Flash overlays that spotlight different facts, tidbits of information and contextually relevant links throughout the timeline of the video. The franchise, developed on Coincident TV’s interactive video platform, also features videos from previous VMA winners: Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dream,” and Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back.”
In addition to sponsoring “Behind the Lens,” Yahoo! is also the official sponsor of the VMA live stream that will provide fans an insider’s view of the VMA’s including the red carpet and back stage. Other elements of the integration include: live polling, relevant search, news updates, chat via FB, Twitter and Yahoo! Using technology developed by attracTV, MTV will allow fans to not only view the red carpet and backstage live streams, but also discuss and share viral clips.
Verizon Sponsorship
The 2010 VMA Verizon sponsorship provides viewers with an “All Access” VMA experience with MTV News’ Jim Cantiello, who will provide Verizon customers with exclusive news and backstage coverage, as well as insider access to Sean Kingston. In addition, Verizon customers will have exclusive access to 2 minute full length segments through V-CAST and through MTV’s first Android Application.
Twitter Integration
MTV will unveil a new version of its Twitter tracker for the 2010 Video Music Awards. Developed by Stamen, the Twitter Tracker is a real time graph of Twitter activity that brings to life real time Twitter activity and highlights the most popular people and awards being talked about. The more popular a person or an award is, the bigger their images will appear with the most popular person moving to the center. In addition, fans can sign on to their Twitter accounts and Tweet without having to leave the page. They can also access a historical timeline of activity to track popular topics.
Foursquare Integration
As part of its expanded relationship with Foursquare, MTV awarded Foursquare users with the ‘2010 MTV VMA Moonman Badge’ to music fans who were following MTV’s foursquare account at http://www.foursquare.com/mtv and c,hecked in to any music venue between August 30 and September 5. Concert-goers that unlocked the badge were entered into the “Check-in To The VMAs” sweepstakes for a chance to ‘check-in’ to the biggest music event of the year—with tickets, airfare and accommodations to this music and celebrity filled event on September 12th for themselves and a guest.
Rock Band 3
The Rock Band 3 Avatar Store on Xbox LIVE, under the Games Collections, launches Sept. 2, featuring a special collection of VMA-themed outfits, accessories and musical instruments for fans’ avatars for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Rock Band players can also purchase previously released downloadable content from 2010 VMA nominees. Xbox LIVE avatars to wear.
MTV VMA Hub Features
As in previous years, MTV.com’s VMA hub provides fans with up-to-the-minute news on all VMA related news including nominations, performances and appearances. Since nominations were announced, fans have allowed streaming the nominated videos and voting on their favorites. The hub also features exclusive behind the scenes news, video and photos. Post show, fans will be able to stream their favorite VMA moments and performances.
The “2010 MTV Video Music Awards” will air live from Nokia Theater L.A. Live in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 9PM (Live ET/Tape delayed PT). This year’s show will feature performances from Eminem, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Usher, B.o.B and Florence and the Machine. Comedian Chelsea Handler is slated to host.
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