This year, the Billboard Music Awards ditched a traditional television broadcast for an experimental digital format. The host-free “ceremony” wasn’t a full-scale award show production, but rather a collection of performances and speeches posted to bbmas.watch on Nov. 19. Performances and winners were also unveiled across BBMAs' and Billboard’s social channels.
Reminiscent of pandemic-era digital events, the award show site refreshed every 20 to 30 minutes with another pretaped performance. In between, the site aired artists’ prerecorded acceptance speeches, which played on a loop.
Produced by Dick Clark Productions, the BBMAs are data driven, which means the winners are chosen based on how well they perform on the Billboard charts, their album and digital song sales, and radio airplay, as well as streaming and social engagement.
David Guetta and Bebe Rexha (pictured) won Top Dance/Electronic Song for "I'm Good (Blue)" at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards.Photo: Instagram/@bbmas/@gilbertfloresphoto
This year, Billboard teamed up with Spotify to find the most loyal fans for various artists; they received a “golden ticket” that allowed them to attend the taped performance of their favorite artist. The top winner of the night was Morgan Wallen with 11 wins, while Taylor Swift was the biggest female winner with 10 awards.
Los Angeles-based production company STURDY. was behind some of this year’s off-site, prerecorded performances. With deep roots in the music industry, having worked with the likes of Bad Bunny, Cardi B, Drake, and Travis Scott, the agency was tasked with creating performances that were unique to the artist.
Kyle Nolan, the creative agency’s head of production, explained that the prerecorded aspect gave them “the ability to create personalized performances for each artist that were not bound to the constraints of having to happen in one single venue. ... Unique performances can be shot that help push the boundaries of what an award show performance typically looks like. They give the artist more freedom to create something amazing while being able to give their fans an unforgettable live experience.”
For this year’s BBMAs, STURDY. worked with David Guetta, Bebe Rexha, and Tate McRae.Photo: Courtesy of STURDY.
As for the new digital format, Nolan said that it’s beneficial because there’s “more content that lives on site in bite-sized bits for fans to absorb, share, comment on, and overall enjoy.” He added that “this new approach will not only work great for BBMA ratings and reviews, but it will create an approach that other award shows may try to follow.”
He continued, “STURDY. is always looking for new ways to reach fans in entertainment, so innovation is a must when coming up with new ways to present entertainment such as award shows, performances, etc.”
But did it work? Some fans blasted the experimental format, saying that “it really takes away from the performances and the winners. I hope no other show does this… ever.”
