The Voice on Snapchat: Interactive Media Campaign
At NBC, I ran The Voice on Snapchat, the first-ever broadcast show made for Snapchat. Not a digital derivative, not a rehash of what’s on-air, but a fully realized, original TV show on Snapchat, based on the on-air show’s format: Audition round, Battle round, Finals, and Voting.
The Voice on Snapchat was a breakthrough in mobile television programming. The self-contained, original series is a first-of-its-kind experience. With the fast-paced changes in TV, The Voice on Snapchat pointed toward the future of a more diverse definition of “television” could look like.
By The Numbers
70,000 submissions
3.6 million subscribers
18 million votes cast
One billion views
Awards
Webby Award / Honorable Mention / Best Social Video Series / 2019
Promax Award Nomination / Best Social Media/ Mobile-Based Promotional Digital Video Content / 2018
Webby Award Nomination / Best Social Video Series / 2018
Cnyposis / 1st Place / Short Form Video Awards / Best Music Series / 2018
Promax Silver Winner / Technical Innovations / Digital Platforms / 2017
Creative Arts Emmy Award / Nomination / Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media With An Unscripted Program / 2017
Clio Entertainment Award / Silver / Single Platform Campaign / 2017
How The Show Worked
Call to Action + Audition Rounds
Each season kicked off with users submitting auditions through VoiceSnaps.com. Those submissions were played and vetted by the Coaches as part of The Voice on Snapchat. They gave their reviews and selected the singers that would move on to the next round.
Miley’s Call To Action
301: Team Miley/Adam Auditions
401: Team Blake Auditions
502: The Audience Picks Adam’s Team
The Voice on Snapchat audition microsite.
The audience voted with a press of their finger.
Battle Rounds
Battle rounds followed with the contestants going head-to-head, and this time the audience got to choose the winner. In another first, fans could vote by swiping on Snapchat. That voting functionality previously didn’t exist, so we worked with Snapchat to develop and debut it for The Voice on Snapchat. Now it’s a regular feature on the platform.
205: Gwen and Blake Battle
305: Team Madam vs. J-Hud Prods
406: Team Blake Auditions
506: Team Adam Battle
Finals and Finale
In the Finals, the four battle winners once again competed for the fan vote. In a television first, the winners made an appearance on The Voice on-air live finale and were invited to compete in the following broadcast season of The Voice.
208: The Winner’s Journey
308: Snapchat Winner Revealed
409: Finale
509: The Finals
Season 2 winner Ignatious makes an appearance on The Voice Season 12 Live Finale.
The winner of Season 4 is announced on The Voice Season 14 Live Finale.
Analytics-Based Creative
Every decision starts with analytics. We analyzed everything, from where the average user left the episode, to which Coach had the most screenshots. Through the use of A/B testing, Google analytics and data from Snapchat’s CMS, we made creative decisions that resulted in a 40% increase in unique viewers in Season 2, and a 35% increase in engagement by Season 3. By Season 5, we had the highest watch time and completion rate of any season of The Voice on Snapchat.
More Miley! Season 3 premiere had 8.3 million unique viewers.
The user chose each of the Coaches’ teams in Season 5.
Gen-Z favorite Noah Cyrus judged the Season 5 Battles.
Promotional Campaigns
NBC PUBLICITY: NBC-issued press release, with mentions in WSJ, Entertainment Weekly, Variety and Mashable.
NBC DIGITAL: Promotional art placed on NBC website to drive user submissions to Voicesnaps.com.
EVENT MARKETING: A pop-up “audition booth” was available on the floor at VidCon 2017.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Season trailers, teasers, episode promos, custom art and countdowns ran across all Coach social media, including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, as well as social media for the Voice and NBC.
SNAPCODES: Personalized Snapcodes were issued to the Coaches, Battle Advisors and Artists. Users could scan codes with their phone to unlock episodes and exclusive trailers.
PRESS MATERIALS: “Vote for me” assets were distributed to all Artists for use with their social and local media.
NBC ON-AIR: Snapchat winners were revealed during The Voice finales.
UNIVERSAL PICTURES PARTNERSHIP: “Pitch Perfect” star Ester Dean made a surprise appearance in The Voice on Snapchat Season 3 Finale.
128 Tiles & Headlines A/B Tested
44 Episodes Produced
238 + Social Media Promotional Posts
Thumbnails/Tiles and Headlines
Custom photo requests were made to reflect the popular Gen Z/Millennial “surprised face.” These photos were used on the Snapchat thumbnails, called “tiles,” which helped boost impressions and viewership.
Animated Tiles
Snapchat introduced a brand new ability to design “animated tiles” shortly after the premiere of The Voice on Snapchat Season 4. We jumped at the opportunity.
Clip pull
Animated elements
Subtle glow effect
