MTV’s second O Music Awards kicked off on Sunday night with an attempt to break a Guinness World Record for longest Dance Marathon, raising money for a bunch of LGBT organizations (live stream below). Award categories include “Beyond The Blog Award,” “Best Fan Cover,” and “Most Addictive Social Music Service,” which Spotify has not surprisingly won.
The O Music Awards have more integration with traditional TV than their first run. Kurt Patat, Senior Director for MTV Press described the multi-screen experience:
“In a true multiscreen taker, [Swedish singer] Robyn’s opening performance will be broadcast on MTV. The event will utilize Viacom Music Group’s multiple screens and made available across Viacom Music Group websites (MTV.com, VH1.com, CMT.com, LogoTV.com and MTVHive.com), as well as mobile.”
They’ll also be featuring promos for the event on MTV News. “We’re launching a series of convergent ad integrations across our screens, explained Patat. “Leading up to O Music Awards 2 on Halloween night, we’ll feature Dove branded MTV News commercial pods that update viewers of the progress of the world record attempt.” Patat added that, “Dove go fresh Deodorant DJ Diamond Kuts will be featured prominently in these spots.”
There will also be a major Xbox video game integration. “Dance Central 2 for Kinect on XBOX 360 will also be heavily integrated in the dance party and be featured across television and digital screens,” explained Patat. “Leading up to the main event on Halloween night, Xbox branded MTV News commercial pods will feature dancers playing Dance Party 2 while they attempt to break the world record.”
For the second awards, MTV has worked with web design shop Happy Cog. For the first awards they had worked with Twitter ecosystem partner JESS3 to build the website and voting.
It seems for this round of the O Music Awards Viacom is utilizing their linear properties more fully than last time. You can watch the dance marathon attempt via their livestream here:
