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The Academy of Country Music Awards are billed as “Country Music’s Party of the Year,” and CBS is luring viewers to the bash on Sunday with a campaign that goes big on the social and digital fronts.
The ACM’s are celebrating their 50th birthday this year, and the telecast will air from AT&T Stadium—home of the Dallas Cowboys. Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan are hosting.
CBS announced Thursday that viewers will be able to watch the ceremony across platforms for the first time ever—at least in 15 major markets—thanks to the six-month-old CBS All Access SVOD/live-streaming service.
The move isn’t just about giving viewers more options to watch the telecast—although they will be able to do so online, on mobile devices and via Roku players.
The ACMs give CBS an opportunity to be among the first networks to get their growing All Access service out in front of a huge audience of potential adopters, just as the competition in the standalone SVOD and OTT space is heating up.
As they decide whether to watch the linear broadcast or the live stream on Sunday, viewers have been seeing a robust social media campaign that leverages CBS talent alongside a dedicated entertainment-focused content production team that is thinking far beyond which photos of Reba might get the most likes on Facebook.
“This is absolutely a cross-platform play that is grounded in our branded destinations—as well as key outlets—especially in terms of not just how we market, but how we generate buzz and create awareness and discussion around the awards,” said Rob Gelick, SVP and GM of digital platforms for CBS Interactive Entertainment.
One of the biggest elements in the ACM campaign is an online fan vote to select the winner of the night’s top prize—Entertainer of the Year—as well New Artist of the Year.
Viewers will be able to keep voting for Entertainer of the Year right up to the third hour of the telecast. New Artist voting closes at 8 p.m. ET, just before broadcast.
“One of the greatest things here is that fans have a voice in the show and in the awards program specifically,” Gelick said. “There’s no better way for an awards show to touch fans than by demystifying the process for how the winners are chosen.”
Beyond the online vote, CBS has brought back Beth Behrs, star of the network’s 2 Broke Girls, as the ACM Social Media Reporter. As both a country music fan and CBS talent with her own social media presence, Behrs can help introduce the 2 Broke Girls audience to the ACMs, and vice versa.
Behrs is a key component of the runway of content leading up to the ceremony, providing behind-the-scenes coverage and all-access extras. CBS is also spotlighting a series of fan-generated social challenges for Behrs to complete, like “line dance with a nominee” or “get a nominee to kiss Beth’s mom.” (She’s bringing her mom as her date this year).
A dedicated team has been creating “a storm of content"—photo galleries, listicles, and other features—that touch various angles of the show, including the history of the awards and past winners, giving CBS a more versatile pool of content to surface that goes beyond your standard GIFs and photos.
A special Facebook integration for this year’s ceremony will see a team going around and capturing moments for exclusive use on the CBS and ACM Facebook pages, while a backstage Twitter mirror will allow talent to share in real time with their fans and followers.
The 50th Academy of Country Music Awards will air live across CBS platforms at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 19.
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