diff --git a/plugin/remote/github/github.go b/plugin/remote/github/github.go
index 32f2a2a74..d82374297 100644
--- a/plugin/remote/github/github.go
+++ b/plugin/remote/github/github.go
@@ -212,11 +212,9 @@ func (r *GitHub) ParseHook(req *http.Request) (*model.Hook, error) {
 		return r.ParsePullRequestHook(req)
 	}
 
-	// get the payload of the message
-	var payload = req.FormValue("payload")
-
 	// parse the github Hook payload
-	var data, err = github.ParseHook([]byte(payload))
+	var payload = GetPayload(req)
+	var data, err = github.ParseHook(payload)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
@@ -259,11 +257,11 @@ func (r *GitHub) ParseHook(req *http.Request) (*model.Hook, error) {
 // ParsePullRequestHook parses the pull request hook from the Request body
 // and returns the required data in a standard format.
 func (r *GitHub) ParsePullRequestHook(req *http.Request) (*model.Hook, error) {
-	var payload = req.FormValue("payload")
 
 	// parse the payload to retrieve the pull-request
 	// hook meta-data.
-	var data, err = github.ParsePullRequestHook([]byte(payload))
+	var payload = GetPayload(req)
+	var data, err = github.ParsePullRequestHook(payload)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/plugin/remote/github/helper.go b/plugin/remote/github/helper.go
index 6cd21d817..6a605776a 100644
--- a/plugin/remote/github/helper.go
+++ b/plugin/remote/github/helper.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package github
 import (
 	"encoding/base32"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 
 	"code.google.com/p/goauth2/oauth"
@@ -236,3 +238,15 @@ func GetFile(client *github.Client, owner, name, path, ref string) ([]byte, erro
 func GetRandom() string {
 	return base32.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(securecookie.GenerateRandomKey(32))
 }
+
+// GetPayload is a helper function that will parse the JSON payload. It will
+// first check for a `payload` parameter in a POST, but can fallback to a
+// raw JSON body as well.
+func GetPayload(req *http.Request) []byte {
+	var payload = req.FormValue("payload")
+	if len(payload) == 0 {
+		raw, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(req.Body)
+		return raw
+	}
+	return []byte(payload)
+}