Lauren Reid // Digital Producer & Content Strategist

After the successes of 2017’s Fan Cam Live, our incumbent sponsor SIMPLE Mobile was interested in what we had to offer for 2018.

While we were very happy with how the program went in 2017, we had one major hurdle if we wanted to continue to provide a live experience with ample room for fan interaction and inclusion of celebrity talent from the show — the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards were a pre-taped show, rather than the live environment that we typically operate in!

To keep these elements, we decided to throw a live watch party co-viewing experience in which fans could watch along with celebrity hosts, who would provide their own fun, sassy commentary during the show, and interact with fans via polls and submitted questions during commercial breaks. To beef up the celebrity angle, we also planned for guest talent to stop by the party, and had packages of interviews with top talent from the linear broadcast that we shot backstage during the show taping available to roll into the stream.

Hosted by Riverdale castmates Vanessa Morgan & Ashleigh Murray, the 2018 Movie & TV Awards ‘Watch Party Live’ presented by SIMPLE Mobile was the official forum – nay, party – for engaging with fans on Facebook while they watch the broadcast live on TV. Fan reactions and show chatter can be a lot to digest, but with our two hosts guiding the conversation, ‘Watch Party Live’ kept it simple for our fans. MTV and SIMPLE Mobile leaned into the organic chatter that fans are already having and turned it into something more – out with the old way of watching the MATVAs and in with the simple!

Keeping in the vein of our watch party theme, the stream launched on Facebook in tandem with the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, and the rundown was in sync with the main show broadcast. In a special partnership with Facebook, we were able to toss to a portion of the linear broadcast within our digital livestream to give viewers a peek at what was happening onair. As the Awards played out, Facebook fans watched along with Vanessa and Ashleigh as they screened the show and provided live couch commentary. As winners were announced and incredible moments happen, they kept an eye on the comments section, responding to fans and chatting along with them in real time. Our hosts’ authentic live commentary as well as interactive polls and fan CTAs kept viewers engaged.

Not only were our hosts featured on one of TV’s hottest shows, they were also Movie & TV Award nominees! Since they were in attendance at the linear broadcast’s taping, Vanessa & Ashleigh were able to provide an inside scoop of what they saw on the ground.

During commercial breaks, our hosts focused on the fans as they interacted with viewers, revealed poll results, provided challenges and introduced pre-banked, backstage interviews with exclusive questions from MTV News’ Josh Horowitz. Each of these segments were rolled back during commercial breaks in alignment with talent’s moment in the show. Guest talent Kalen Allen and Trevor Jackson also joined our hosts during the stream to provide additional commentary and fan interaction.

But that’s not all! By simply engaging with our hosts throughout the stream and collecting clues that solved a puzzle, fans had a chance to win three months of free movies, truly unlimited service, SIMPLE Mobile, or a 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards poster full of autographs from celebrities that were interviewed in our backstage packages — including Chris Pratt, Chadwick Boseman, Aubrey Plaza, Michael B. Jordan, Alison Brie, Finn Wolfhard, and many more!

The 2-hr stream saw over 1M+ streams, 13K+ engagements and overwhelming positive sentiment around guest talent Kalen Allen and Trevor Jackson.