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Why is MTV still on the air?
- Thread starter ssetta
- Start date
That's what they say. It's not what they'd actually do.
Meaning if it were still playing videos by the singers and bands they remember from their '80s childhood, or current videos from current acts?
The OP complained that MTV had no music programming. I replied that MTV does have a channel with 24/7 music programming and now you complain that people don't watch it.
I swear people post here just to hear themselves complain.
If you want your MTV you can watch MTVU. If you don't want to watch it you don't have to. Easy.
I put it on for background music sometimes -- it's a pretty good mix of pop, alt and hip-hop that's far enough ahead of the curve that it sounds fresh. In fact, I discover more new music from watching that channel than from listening to radio. If you're 70+ years old, like half the people who post on these radio forums seem to be, then you probably won't like it.
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Yes But I didn't know about this outlet MTVU given that some carriers such as Xfinity does not have MTVU though on the lineup. Most of my music discovery is on youtube and other music streaming outlets though. Yes I understand that 18-25 has to be the target audience here for MTVU. I'm not here to complain I am here to examine the current state of how the labels operate today in 2020. 
I agree that MTV is indeed a different animal from its origins in the 80's. But my gawd, it has been a different animal from about 1988! So for more than 30 years they have generally been a non-music video channel. Yes, some of us boomers loved it back then, but it has been gone for a long time! And kudos for whoever said you can still find alternate MTV channels that still play videos, but NOBODY IS WATCHING THEM. (Well, very few, apparently). MTV continues to be a youth-based formatted channel with the "teen mom" series, and of course "Catfish", which seems to be scaling back a bit perhaps because the stories are becoming too predictable. I'm looking at my current cable lineup for tonight and tomorrow and see titles like "Floribama Shore", (young adult bad behavior), "Ex on the Beach", (don't have any idea), "Ridiculousness" (repeated all-night long), then three post-2000 teen oriented movies all day tomorrow. So there you have it. Not your parents MTV for sure.
It usually goes like: MTV is 39 years old. Thanks for 8 years of music. I will then point out that if MTV was still playing current music videos, they still wouldn't be watching. (Yes I think the idea is they should have been playing music from the 80s continuously since the 80s).
It's also like AM Radio and Top 40 too I hear some of the people talk about WABC-AM, WLS-AM, 93KHJ (Los Angeles edition) and (610 KFRC) these people complain about these 4 radio stations not airing music in current era. And yes we always have to say in that board the demos went to FM and browser/App Radio for the past 15 years for current hits. And it goes like this Gen X went to FM and Gen Y went to FM and app radio because of demo reasons.
But everything I have been reading by current media consultants have been bringing up Gen Z for this decade though. iE people born from 1997-2004 although these years may include up to 2009 in some studies though as the demo to focus on reaching them as the target money demos. If you were a recording label CEO, Marketing and board as of the 2020's you are on the hot seat on how to get these people to your side through looking at data on which venues Gen Z goes to.
Yes Iheart, TuneIn, Radio.com app may have some stations on the Top 40 side targeting this demos. But on the TV side Twitch has to be considered for a deal though if the labels want to release their top artists/songs/albums there to get the target demos.
I do not see MTVU or MTV going back to having deals with labels for long though. MTV is more associated with gen X and parts of Gen Y when it comes to music videos and awards. Yes as Big A has said MTV is adapting to the Social media outlets with awards segments and appearing on the trending pages of Twitter and Facebook but that's it for now.
MTV lost GenX long ago. You can point to the loss of Beavis and Daria as the point when that generation tuned out. To me TRL's end was when the millennials took over and that didn't last long at all.
Plus MTV and its associated networks are available on PlutoTV, the Viacom streaming site: "On July 30, 2019, Pluto launched three MTV-branded music video channels: "Biggest Pop" for pop hits, "Spankin' New" for new music and up-and-coming artists, and a channel reviving the Yo! MTV Raps brand."
As a teenager during the 1980s, I was into music videos, watching them first on UHF TV stations in NYC, and then on MTV when I finally got cable. However, I would not watch MTV if it were playing music videos today. Also, Spectrum, my cable provider, does not carry MTVU.
Currently, I subscribe to YouTube Premium, so I have access to the YouTube Music app, which specializes in music videos. I do watch some interesting trending music videos on the main YouTube app; however, other than those, I don't generally watch music videos on YouTube or YouTube Music or anywhere else, preferring to listen to the songs on Google Play Music. With so many choices of video entertainment to choose from, I simply don't have as much time to watch music videos as I had over three decades ago.
and people well above the again of 12 complain current Nickelodeon programming
the founders of MTV expected it would always be the brand of the young instead of aging with it's first audience
I just checked out Spankin' New and saw three new hip-hop videos. Is this another example of the labels not putting any marketing muscle behind rock anymore, or would I have seen new rock acts eventually?
Ya, what the hell happened to Nickelodeon.
you outgrew it
Maybe a certain subset of GenZ that watch MTV in 2020 supports this new Hip-Hop videos you are referring to here.
Gen Z sees Rock as their parents or grandparents music? Either way we aged out. Yes I mean Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials are too old for MTV in this decade though.
Sometimes they show decent movies on MTV but that is about the only thing I get interested in with the channel.
MTV has separate channels that play mostly all music videos and music related shows. They Are MTV Live MTV Hits MTV Classic and occasionally MTV 2.
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