We’re not as quick to jump on the MTV hate bandwagon as much as most publications or music fans, for that matter. Fans complain endlessly about the days when “MTV actually played music” and “The M actually stood for music”, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
For one thing, nobody actually enjoyed just watching music videos all day. That’s why some of our best MTV moments were spent with shows like Liquid Television, Headbanger’s Ball, and of course, the imperishable Beavis & Butthead.
MTV recognised that watching music videos all day isn’t everybody’s cup of tea and decided to develop new, innovative programming to keep their music-loving viewers interested. Then came the internet and suddenly you no longer had to wait around with a primed VCR to get your favourite video.
YouTube came around and suddenly relying solely on music for your business model wasn’t such a good idea, especially if your racket is music videos, which could now be watched endlessly on-demand. So MTV decided to revamp once again and become the network best known for unleashing Jersey Shore on our lives.
This was when we became more inclined to jump on the hate crusade. We don’t mind MTV moving away from music and revamping itself for a new generation, that’s how you stay in business. It’s what they decided to replace their old programming with, which we won’t even speak of, that riles us.
But alas, it seems MTV have now gone ahead and revamped for the worse once again, and their new venture will make 16 and Pregnant look like The Sopranos. As The Australian reports, MTV will soon replace their iconic “I want my MTV” slogan with “I am my MTV”.
What does that mean? Well, they’re adapting to the 21st Century’s user-driven media landscape. What does that mean? It means they’re going to start incorporating user-generated content into on-air channel broadcasts within hours with the hashtag #MTVbump.
If you haven’t figured it out, they’re going to start featuring people’s social media crap on TV. Now, obviously we don’t exactly know what this will be like, but we have a feeling it won’t be good, though the network couldn’t be more excited about the launch of #MTVbump.
Kerry Taylor, head of MTV International and chief marketing officer for Viacom International Media Networks UK, said the incorporation of user-created social media videos into local channel broadcasts would be the first of many ways MTV will get their audience involved more closely with the brand.
“It’s time to shed our skin and reinvent again,” Ms Taylor said. During a recent visit to Australia, Ms Taylor said the days of audiences simply coming to a channel are gone and the onus is now on broadcasters to meet their viewership and actively engage them.
“Our audience wants to create,” Ms Taylor said. “They expect MTV to support their creativity and champion it.” Of course, whether that’s true or not is kind of up for debate. We don’t know about you, but we have no desire to see our friends’ tweets over Kevin Spacey’s head when watching House of Cards.
According to Ms Taylor, #MTVbump will see each channel able to dial up the proportion of locally-created user content or use global content. The channel would be able to put content within two hours of spotting it via the #MTVBump hashtag, she explained.
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“No one is bringing user-generated content to air this quickly on a global scale. #MTVbump lets us be incredibly topical, fast and localised — which is critical.” The network will also launch “Art Breaks” to display video art to their viewers, which sounds an awful lot like broadcasting Vines on TV.
While this may sound like a terrible idea and we’re interested in the copyright issues that could come about from broadcasting what someone’s written for your own profit, MTV say they’ve crunched the numbers and this is what their audience wants.
Ms Taylor said the network’s research found that teens were often bored with media, but were increasingly going online and consuming MTV content on mobiles. MTV’s linear broadcast, she argued, had “never been in a better position”, especially in Australia.
Among 19 to 39 year-olds, MTV’s ratings are reportedly up 29 percent year-on-year and online, MTV.com.au had 2.5 million unique visitors in May, its biggest audience to date. Only time will tell if these viewers love the new format or simply echo the immortal words of Beavis & Butthead – “This sucks.”
