Mashable, however, got an early demo last week of the massively interactive app. It's sprinkled with gaming elements tied to voting for the award show's nominees or predicting the order of performers during the July 1 shindig.
The Black Entertainment Television Awards honors African-Americans in music, movies and sports. Last year, producers integrated social media heavily on air and on location through a star-studded “social media lounge.”
The slick, colorful app comes out in June and will reward users with prizes and online prestige such as displaying the high scorer's Twitter handle prominently on one of the game's main interfaces.
Aside from the gaming aspects, the app will feature a clickable timeline of the BET Awards, in-depth artist profiles, curated tweets and videos. A "Tweetmap," meanwhile, will show where app users are tweeting from and let them zoom in to view user profiles and tweets. It resembles the network's app for its 106 & Park show.
"We knew we wanted to make voting fun," Brandon Lucas, BET's VP of mobile, recently told Mashable, adding that production on the app began five months ago.
One game, Too Big to Pick, lets users vote for nominees by shooting disks into a moving goal with the slide of a finger. The more disks a user makes into the goal, the more votes that user will tally. Players can see how their Facebook friends fared in the game, too.
Another game, The Line-Up, is a fantasy sports-style game in which people predict the order of the show's performers and then compare their lists with friends and celebrities.
Both games allow players to share their scores and line-ups to Facebook and Twitter.
On Tuesday, BET Networks also unveiled the first two confirmed performers: Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown.
"We have many more acts to come," says Stephen Hill, president of music programming and specials at BET Networks. "The Shrine Auditorium will be shaking for the R&B stalwarts Maze featuring Frankie Beverly as they receive the Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Award. We're just getting started and already the show is living up to its slogan: It's too big to miss."
Kanye West, who is no stranger to going on entertaining, multi-tweet tirades, snagged the most nominations with seven. Beyonce, who has been revamping and boosting her digital presence as of late, received six nominations.
Here is a full list of nominees for this year's show:
Best Female R&B Artist
Marsha Ambrosius
Beyonce
Mary J. Blige
Melanie Fiona
Rihanna
Best Male R&B Artist
Chris Brown
Bruno Mars
Miguel
Trey Songz
Usher
Best Group
Bad Meets Evil
Diddy-Dirty Money
Maybach Music Group
Mindless Behavior
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West)
Best Collaboration
Beyonce f/ J. Cole – "Party"
Big Sean f/ Kanye West & Roscoe Dash – "Marvin & Chardonnay"
DJ Khaled f/ Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne – "I'm On One"
Drake f/ Lil Wayne & Tyga – "The Motto"
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West) f/ Otis Redding – "Otis"
Wale f/ Miguel – "Lotus Flower Bomb"
Best Male Hip Hop Artist
Big Sean
Drake
J. Cole
Lil Wayne
Rick Ross
Young Jeezy
Best Female Hip Hop Artist
Diamond
Nicki Minaj
Brianna Perry
Trina
Video of the Year
Beyonce – "Countdown"
Beyonce – "Love On Top"
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West) – "N***as in Paris"
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West) f/ Otis Redding – "Otis"
Usher – "Climax"
Video Director of the Year
Beyonce & Alan Ferguson
Benny Boom
Chris Brown & Godfrey Tabarez
Kanye West
Hype Williams
Best New Artist
A$AP Rocky
Big Sean
Diggy
Future
Meek Mill
Best Gospel
Yolanda Adams
Kim Burrell
James Fortune & FIYA
Fred Hammond
Trin-I-Tee 5:7
Best Actress
Angela Bassett
Viola Davis
Taraji P. Henson
Regina King
Zoe Saldana
Best Actor
Don Cheadle
Common
Idris Elba
Kevin Hart
Denzel Washington
YoungStars Award
Astro
Diggy
Jacob Latimore
Keke Palmer
Willow Smith
Best Movie
Good Deeds
Jumping The Broom
Laugh At My Pain
Red Tails
The Help
Subway Sportswoman of the Year
Skylar Diggins
Brittney Griner
Candace Parker
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Subway Sportsman of the Year
Carmelo Anthony
Kobe Bryant
Victor Cruz
Kevin Durant
LeBron James
Coca-Cola Viewer's Choice Award
Beyonce – "Love On Top"
Chris Brown – "Turn Up the Music"
Drake f/ Lil Wayne & Tyga – "The Motto"
Mindless Behavior – "Hello"
The Throne (Jay-Z & Kanye West) f/ Otis Redding – "Otis"
Wale f/ Miguel – "Lotus Flower Bomb"
Centric Award
Common
Estelle
Robert Glasper
Robin Thicke
Tyrese
Best International Act: Africa
Camp Mulla (Kenya)
Ice Prince (Nigeria)
Lira (South Africa)
Mokobe (Mali)
Sarkodie (Ghana)
Wizkid (Nigeria)
Best International Act: UK
Estelle
Labrinth
Emeli Sande
Sway
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