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MTV fights to retain viewers from Facebook & Twitter

Posted on 21. Jun, 2009 by Rory McCafferty in Social Networking

It seems to me that MTV abandoned the music video format a long time ago and embraced ‘reality’ TV. Portfolio has an interesting piece about the success of The Hills and how MTV is going to double-down with more meta-reality.

It’s a risky strategy. With these shows, MTV is betting on a particularly elusive sliver of the youth demographic: 18- to 24-year-olds. Yet Graden argues that the programs tap into today’s youth culture in a way prepackaged sitcoms no longer can. “Once you hit 15, 16, you are onto Facebook, onto Twitter, so this is the first generation that has already published the story of their life in real time,” he says. “These shows are what they wish their story was—with pictures they choose, with songs they choose, with their friends.”

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