MTV Networks' Upfront Message: Commercial Time is Content Time. Justin Timberlake to Appear at Upfront Today

Instead of focusing on the new shows in development for its many platforms MTV Networks at its upfront presentation tonight will concentrate on the creative opportunities for advertisers within the commercial pods on all of them That is the production of specially cobranded content that runs between commercials and plays like entertainment programmingquotIn our presentation there is relentless integration between our talent and clientsquot MTV Networks Chairman and CEO Judy McGrath told JackMyers Media Business Report in an exclusive interview That talent will include Justin Timberlake Taylor Swift and Comedy Central star Sarah Silverman who has composed a provocative song for the event that will put one top advertising executive in league with Matt Damon the object of Silverman39s unbridled lust in a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment that has become the year39s most talked about viral video quotWe39re trying to put a different spin on it We39re not just announcing shows that have already been announced It39s a shameless and willing embrace of our new commercial process Commercial time is content timequot said McGrath Read More in Nina Spezzaferro39s 18 to 24 Insights commentaryMTV Networks executives refer to this process as podbusting which is not entirely new to the company Recent podbusters include Fresh Takes a multipart microseries on MTV starring Alicia Keys and created by Dove MindShare Entertainment and MTV that ran during The Hills and Spike39s highaction microeffort Get Moe which has featured a number of advertisers in its storytelling in particular Mountain Dew McGrath compares Get Moe39s highend production quality to The Bourne IdentityquotWe39re finding in the research that people are watching these productions and noticing them and recalling the products so it39s really workingquot McGrath saidquotWe39re doing a lot more creative work with our clients particularly in the podbusting effortquot added Hank Close President US Ad Sales MTV Networks quotWe have great research results Some of those executions are keeping 100 percent of the audience in the commercial pod In the presentation we39re going to show what we39ve done and talk about how we are going to do morequotMcGrath said this quotlatest generationquot of commercial content is quotmuch more creatively drivenquot than previous cobranding efforts quotIt hangs together better and it feels worthy of asking someone to stay and watch it because they39re going to be wildly entertainedquotThere is a creative win in this for all of usquot she continued quotWe look at the process of creating great marketing with clients with agencies and with an eye toward entertaining and keeping people glued to our products and theirsquotMcGrath acknowledged that some other networks are experimenting with the contentwithincommercial time format Nevertheless she feels that quotwhat we are showcasing is really innovative and fresh The work from Spike is really exceptionalquotSpeaking about MTV Networks overall McGrath reflected quotI feel like we39re heading into this Upfront season with real strength across all of our networks and brands That isn39t always the case There are always leaders but this time it feels like everything is in a really great place We39re up on all our networks It feels as though we can stand there and say we know these audiences they like what we39re serving on television they like what we39re doing in digital we didn39t suffer much from the writers39 strike and we39re offering up a really good complement of things to clientsquotTo what does she owe this acrosstheboard strength especially at a time when many television networks are losing viewers quotWe39ve been at this for a while looking at the intersection of digital and television and how quickly the appetite for fresh live different things has ramped up for everyonequot she explained quotWe39ve been trying to make change quickly How we program how we schedule how we produce when we launch It has been a sort of scientific meticulous process with a fair amount of respect for creative invention and madness thrown into itquotquotIt has been very much purposefulquot McGrath continued quotPeople expect fresh content all the time We have to constantly think of new ways to bring them in and keep them there We39ve gone quicker to series we39ve ordered more episodes we39ve done more ofthemoment live things on all the networks and we39re still investing in animation and the evergreen things that really drive our businessquotI don39t take any of this for grantedquot she added quotIt39s making sure every team is focused on delivering buzzworthy hits and continually moving forward with fresh things No producer here just launches a television show without thinking about all media How many legs does it have in how many places Everybody is figuring that out But in general when you do something that works on an individual platform and it39s connected to a big hit on television it really improves everythingquotquotWhat we find is that TV is the biggest driver of brand awarenessquot Close said quotWhat the research shows is that when you put other screens on top of that and extend the experience your engagement scores are higher Television is your base and the more you can extend the experience across other screens the better the ad recall isquotMobile is another huge growth area for the company though McGrath admits that quotin terms of generating a lot of profit at the moment it doesn39t But it definitely is a revenue generator and a big part of a lot of the buys from some of our clientsquotWhat mobile has brought is quotreachquot she continued quotBecause we39re a global company we39re the most widely distributed on mobile In a lot of markets it39s the main lead platform For brands all around the world it39s the device of choice for young adults Although we create some original mobile product it is largely developed around a franchise that already has some equityquotquotI think mobile is waiting for the ad models and particularly ad formats to maturequot Close offered quotThey39re not really there yet What that39s going to look like five years ahead we don39t know But we think it39s going to be really big business for usquotamp160

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MTV Networks' Upfront Message: Commercial Time is Content Time. Justin Timberlake to Appear at Upfront Today

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