Spike TV's second annual Video Game Awards is fast approaching airtime. To be held Tuesday, December 14, the event is drawing an A-list of performers and game-industry talent.

　　The event's pedigree is nothing to scoff at. Tallying 1.2 million viewers for last year's show, the awards ranked as the number one ranked program on cable TV among the key demographic of all viewers aged 12 to 24 as well as among the slightly more desirable niche of male viewers ages 12 to 34.

　　Can the network do it again this year? With Snoop Dogg MC'ing and promoting the event--and big brands such as AOL, Campbell's Soup, Dentyne, Pontiac, Mountain Dew, Radio Shack, Taco Bell, and Virgin Mobile on board as advertisers--the odds look good.

　　GameSpot spoke with Spike TV senior vice president of marketing Marc Edwards who took us behind the scenes.

　　GameSpot: First things first, Marc, how's the channel doing?

　　Marc Edwards: Well, from a brand and brand awareness perspective, being barely a year old, I could not have imagined a brand that could do so well. The name Spike TV in the cable television world, particularly among our target audience, is almost ubiquitously known.

　　GS: The stats are what?

　　ME: The percentages are in the 90-plus percentage range in terms of people that have awareness of Spike TV and Spike TV as a network for men. So, that has been an absolute success. And we’re very, very proud of the fact that more than 9 out of 10 men identify Spike TV as a network for men.

　　GS: What other metrics do you look for in addition to awareness?

　　ME: From a marketing perspective, we not only look for awareness, but we look for appeal of the brand’s positioning. How do men feel about a network for men--a network that is designed to inform and inspire them, and to be sensitive to their wants and desires and needs. And again, on that count, the network is doing very, very well. Men love the concept of a channel for men, they love the concept of having a home, a place for them, and in that regard the brand also resonates very, very strongly.

　　GS: And tell me a little bit about the connection that Spike now has with the game industry. And what did you learn from the award event last year?

　　ME: We learned that we made a very, very sound and solid strategic decision to acknowledge the strength of the video game industry. Of course, we thought it was a good and sound and solid idea looking at the size and scope of the industry, and the growth rate of the industry. But part of the immediate feedback is: Wow, what a really great decision.

　　Celebrating the best that video games have to offer, providing insights into the world of video games that maybe the average guy at home doesn’t know about--also making it fun and entertaining is something that resonated very, very strongly with our target audience. We believe that we’re going to have even greater success this year.

　　GS: I’m kind of curious, what did the show cost to produce last year?

　　ME: Can’t answer that question, I’m not the producer or the executive producer of the show, but what I would say is that it was produced with the same quality as any other major award shows--the same type of production infrastructure was in place, the same type of production executive talent was put into place as all the other major shows. It was definitely produced on par with that.

　　GS: Do you have any idea what sort of ad revenues flowed into the network as a result of direct sales against the show’s running time?

　　ME: I don’t have those numbers at my disposal, but what I would say is that the sponsorships that we put together--and they weren’t video game marketers or platform developers who were the sponsors--were sold out almost immediately.

　　Lots of other categories have a very strong male-targeted user base, and felt that this was a great vehicle for them to reach their target audience. That was true last year, and we expanded upon it this year. We sold out most of our sponsorships almost immediately upon announcing that we were going to be doing the awards show again this year.

　　GS: How does the awards show help the Spike TV agenda?

　　ME: It’s a very, very important part of our agenda. If I just could take a step back, and not to sound too philosophical, but our mission is to be the ultimate brand for the modern man, and to inspire and inform him through our entertainment. So in doing that, we have to find avenues that resonate very strongly with our target audience. Since video games are such a prevalent activity among our user group, celebrating that industry and celebrating the best of that, only helps to make our brand more closely aligned with our target audience.

　　My role specifically in doing that is to raise awareness of the awards show through our advertising both online, on air, in print, and to facilitate some of those promotional sponsorships that we talked about.

　　GS: Does the network solicit feedback from subscribers, from viewers after it airs shows--especially when you do something for the first time?

　　ME: Yes, there are online mechanisms as well as other forms of communication where we get direct feedback from our viewers, ways that we can make it better, things that they really liked, things that they didn’t like, and not just about this show, but about all of our programming.

　　GS: What did you learn?

　　ME: We did some focus group [testing] on the award show and one of the things that we did learn is that, like many other categories, there are hardcore game people, and there are people that don’t take video games that seriously. We very clearly recognize that we are an entertainment network, and that the vast majority of our target audience are those people that like games but also have other elements to their lives. So in going through and determining how to create an even better award show, we took that into consideration. The entertainment elements of the show are of equal importance to the audience that’s watching [as are] clips and footage of a game being played.

　　GS: And how is this year’s show going to differ from last year’s? In what ways will it have grown or changed?

　　ME: One significant way that it’s changed is that the show is going to be live, so you can expect lots of spontaneity, lots of fun.

　　GS: You also wanted to talk about the advisory board, which is very different this year.

　　ME: Well, we have enlisted an advisory board to help us. First, to determine and identify which categories are the most important categories for our viewers. And second, to help us to identify which games were the games that were most likely to be the games for nomination, and ultimately for voting by the fans as their favorite games, within each category. The nomination board was comprised of industry experts from the development world, from the publishing world, and from all genres of the video game industry, so we wanted to make sure that there was real buy in on the part of the industry overall in terms of what we were doing, and in terms of the categories and the games that were nominated. [Board members include Geoff Keighley of Entertainment Weekly and Business 2.0, freelance writer Noah Robischon, Michel Marriot of the New York Times, and Chris Morris of CNN/Money.]

　　GS: Was there such a thing as an advisory board last year?

　　ME: There was an internal advisory board.

　　GS: How is the voting coming along? Any numbers that you can refer to?

　　ME: Online, we’ve surpassed the 2.5 million vote mark, and the voting will still be open until the 14th of December. There is media--radio, print media--that’s actually kicking in beginning next week that should really, really help to escalate those numbers.

　　GS: Is that on your own network, or are you buying space in other media?

　　ME: We buy space in other media to promote the show. We try to find those vehicles that resonate most strongly with men. So we’ve gone to print publications like Maxim…Maxim for the month of December has a 2-page spread that focuses on one of the specific categories, the Cyber Vixen category. In addition, we’re in radio, using a partnership with Infinity Radio and with Radio One. We’ve done live remotes in conjunction with some of the retail--with some retail partners…EBGames, Gamestop, Fry stores, Best Buy, Loews Theatres are all doing in-store, in-theater promotions of the video game awards.

　　GS: Anything big I’m missing here on the overall picture?

　　ME: Well, if you were here in New York City, and you were standing in the middle of Times Square, you'd see a huge billboard right above the Good Morning America studio that features the host of our show, Snoop Dogg. He's promoting the Video Game Awards. The billboard was up during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which brought over 3 million people into Times Square. It’s great promotion in the city, and actually across the country because of the number of visitors that come through Times Square.

　　GS: Where is it being held?

　　ME: It’s at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, California…there have been a number of award shows there: Kids' Choice Awards, VH1.

　　GS: Are you expecting a big crowd?

　　ME: Let’s put it this way, if I was a scalper and I had to fill all the ticket requests I have right now, I’d be doing really, really well during the holiday season.

　　GS: Good luck with the show.