iHeartMedia Social Voting System
Context
In a landscape full of awards shows, iHeartMedia needed to find a way for their music awards show to stand out. The goal was not only to increase engagement, but to integrate social media directly into the experience, transforming viewers from passive audiences into active participants on one of the world’s biggest stages.
Situation
iHeartMedia sought to revolutionize the voting process for the iHeartRadio Music Awards by making participation public, visible, and shareable. Rather than treating social media as a promotional layer, the voting system needed to function as a core mechanic of the live event itself.
Constraints
The system operated within a live broadcast environment at massive scale. Participation needed to be simple enough for mainstream audiences, resilient under real-time spikes, and transparent enough to maintain public trust and legitimacy.
Decisions
We made three deliberate decisions.
First, each vote would be cast publicly through Twitter using a clear and consistent hashtag structure, making participation easy to track and share.
Second, participating accounts were required to be public, allowing votes to compound through retweets while preserving transparency.
Third, we built a real-time tracking system that surfaced voting trends before and during the broadcast, feeding momentum back into the event itself.
First, each vote would be cast publicly through Twitter using a clear and consistent hashtag structure, making participation easy to track and share.
Second, participating accounts were required to be public, allowing votes to compound through retweets while preserving transparency.
Third, we built a real-time tracking system that surfaced voting trends before and during the broadcast, feeding momentum back into the event itself.
Execution
The campaign launched with coordinated media announcements and targeted social placements that clearly outlined how to participate. Artists and nominees amplified the call to action directly to their audiences.
A valid vote followed a simple, repeatable format:
“I'm voting for #KendrickLamar for #BestLyrics at the #iHeartAwards. RT to vote too!”
This structure functioned as both a call to action and a reusable template, allowing the campaign to scale organically across nominees and categories.
A valid vote followed a simple, repeatable format:
“I'm voting for #KendrickLamar for #BestLyrics at the #iHeartAwards. RT to vote too!”
This structure functioned as both a call to action and a reusable template, allowing the campaign to scale organically across nominees and categories.
Measurement
The campaign generated more tweets than the Super Bowl.
Over 65 million votes and 7 billion impressions were recorded across Twitter and other open platforms. Viewer participation increased by more than 10,000 percent compared to previous years. Engagement signals were tracked across impressions, activated reach, platform-level interaction, and fan and follower growth.
Over 65 million votes and 7 billion impressions were recorded across Twitter and other open platforms. Viewer participation increased by more than 10,000 percent compared to previous years. Engagement signals were tracked across impressions, activated reach, platform-level interaction, and fan and follower growth.
Outcome
The approach transformed the iHeartRadio Music Awards into a dynamic, participatory event and set a new standard for audience engagement. Based on the lift in pre-show buzz and live participation, the system became a permanent part of iHeartMedia’s event strategy and was reused across multiple flagship broadcasts.
Learning
At scale, open participation systems attract manipulation. Midway through the campaign, significant bot activity emerged, revealing how quickly synthetic engagement can distort outcomes.
The delay between manipulation and enforcement highlighted an important truth: participation systems must be designed with bad actors in mind from the outset. This insight has informed every large-scale engagement system we’ve designed since.
The delay between manipulation and enforcement highlighted an important truth: participation systems must be designed with bad actors in mind from the outset. This insight has informed every large-scale engagement system we’ve designed since.
