Fewer people are watching MTV now and MTV executives are trying to reinvent the channel that once only played music videos.
So long are the days of Snooki and JWoww and say hello to new scripted series. According to Billboard.com, MTV is trying to change the game by producing more scripted TV shows that focus on wizards and sorcery.
MTV showed a trailer for The Shannara Chronicles, its lavish TV adaptation of a series of swords-and-sorcery novels by Terry Brooks, which will premiere in January 2016. Filmed in New Zealand and filled with medieval costumes, Shannara looks more like the Lord of the Rings movies than anything on MTV, and it has the budget to match — it’s the most expensive series the channel has ever made, according to an executive.
But, MTV may need all the magic they can get. This year, ratings have dropped by 40% in the target demographic. The channel also doesn’t have any new or shocking TV shows they once had. For instance, The Real World is older than the target audience and analysts are arguing that it has become harder and harder for MTV to find new hit TV shows.
But, is the problem bigger than MTV? Fewer people are watching TV and more people are choosing YouTube, Facebook, and social media to find shocking, new and exciting series. Most importantly, people are sick of reality shows.
Much of MTV’s ratings trouble comes from a general decline in watching live TV — overall viewership of ad-supported cable has dropped by about 10 percent, and channels that target younger demographics are down more. The channel’s most popular show, Teen Mom, gets almost 2 million 12-to-34 viewers a week, but that’s a third of what Jersey Shore did in its heyday.
“You can get a bigger audience with an Instagram post than you can on some MTV shows,” says Barry Lowenthal, president of The Media Kitchen, a planning and buying agency.
MTV is not the only channel struggling to stay alive and relevant. Comedy Central has had a decline in ratings of 30 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to 2014 in the target demographic. Despite having breakout shows such as ‘Broad City’ and ‘Inside Amy Schumer’.
Either way the future of television rests not on reality shows but on scripted series. Hopefully, as Netflix steadily increases their prices and adds new streaming series, MTV will be able to compete.
