MTV struggles to keep the attention of its young audience
The internet poses the biggest threat to the channel as it hits 25. But cool new rivals are also moving in.
Along with the launch of CNN, MTV ended the domination of major TV networks in America and was the fuse that lit the explosion of multi- channel television across the globe, according to Robert Thompson, director at the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, New York State.
Over the years it has changed constantly to keep up with its young, fickle audience while alienating the previous generation of viewers. MTV was once famous for premiering videos such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Madonna’s Like a Virgin, but now music videos have all but disappeared from MTV’s main channel.
Its most watched programmes are reality shows such as The Osbournes, Laguna Beach and The Real World. MTV has also fractured into a network of channels catering to an ever more demanding and distracted audience.
Owned by the media conglomerate Viacom and now part of MTV Networks, the channel’s stablemates include the VH1 music video channel and Nickelodeon, the children’s channel. Viacom also owns the Paramount Pictures studio but MTV Networks accounts for 85% of its operating profits.
MTV attracts huge audiences and makes big money. Ten days ago Viacom announced that it had made a profit of $416m (£219m) in the past three months, backed by strong advertising sales at MTV Networks.
But its audience is being drawn away by the internet, and advertisers are following the drift. In May the company announced a 10% decline in profit, due in part to the loss of a big — so far unnamed — advertiser in Germany.
MTV spawned a legion of imitators but today its biggest battle is online. Video threatened to kill the radio star, now the internet threatens MTV.
MySpace, You Tube, Google Video, Apple’s iTunes — MTV’s online rivals — are now eating up hours that teens and twentysomethings once spent watching television. As broadband penetration increases, that trend is likely to grow. There are now 9m homes in Britain with high-speed internet access and more and more households are getting wired every month.
According to a report by Ofcom, the telecom regulator, 16 to 24-year-olds, a key demographic group for advertisers and MTV’s core audience, now watch television for an average of 18 hours 20 minutes a week. That compares with 25 hours 30 minutes for the average viewer. The number of hours watched by 25 to 34-year-olds is also slipping. MTV and its rivals will benefit from the fact that these viewers are more likely to watch channels outside the terrestrial set of BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel Four and Five. But across the world the trend is clear — young people are watching less television.
Online audiences are experiencing phenomenal growth, but over the past three years MTV’s ratings growth was only 5%, said the research firm Bernstein. Tellingly, VH1, with an older, more loyal audience, grew 17%.
“In cable they were cutting edge,” said Thompson. “Now they are the old guard. For MTV ‘old’ is not good.”
Source: TimesOnline
Along with the launch of CNN, MTV ended the domination of major TV networks in America and was the fuse that lit the explosion of multi- channel television across the globe, according to Robert Thompson, director at the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, New York State.
Over the years it has changed constantly to keep up with its young, fickle audience while alienating the previous generation of viewers. MTV was once famous for premiering videos such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Madonna’s Like a Virgin, but now music videos have all but disappeared from MTV’s main channel.
Its most watched programmes are reality shows such as The Osbournes, Laguna Beach and The Real World. MTV has also fractured into a network of channels catering to an ever more demanding and distracted audience.
Owned by the media conglomerate Viacom and now part of MTV Networks, the channel’s stablemates include the VH1 music video channel and Nickelodeon, the children’s channel. Viacom also owns the Paramount Pictures studio but MTV Networks accounts for 85% of its operating profits.
MTV attracts huge audiences and makes big money. Ten days ago Viacom announced that it had made a profit of $416m (£219m) in the past three months, backed by strong advertising sales at MTV Networks.
But its audience is being drawn away by the internet, and advertisers are following the drift. In May the company announced a 10% decline in profit, due in part to the loss of a big — so far unnamed — advertiser in Germany.
MTV spawned a legion of imitators but today its biggest battle is online. Video threatened to kill the radio star, now the internet threatens MTV.
MySpace, You Tube, Google Video, Apple’s iTunes — MTV’s online rivals — are now eating up hours that teens and twentysomethings once spent watching television. As broadband penetration increases, that trend is likely to grow. There are now 9m homes in Britain with high-speed internet access and more and more households are getting wired every month.
According to a report by Ofcom, the telecom regulator, 16 to 24-year-olds, a key demographic group for advertisers and MTV’s core audience, now watch television for an average of 18 hours 20 minutes a week. That compares with 25 hours 30 minutes for the average viewer. The number of hours watched by 25 to 34-year-olds is also slipping. MTV and its rivals will benefit from the fact that these viewers are more likely to watch channels outside the terrestrial set of BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel Four and Five. But across the world the trend is clear — young people are watching less television.
Online audiences are experiencing phenomenal growth, but over the past three years MTV’s ratings growth was only 5%, said the research firm Bernstein. Tellingly, VH1, with an older, more loyal audience, grew 17%.
“In cable they were cutting edge,” said Thompson. “Now they are the old guard. For MTV ‘old’ is not good.”
Source: TimesOnline
mystro - 22. Aug, 00:01