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

By TV / Video Download Archives
Cover image for  article: 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 Networksat 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 co-branded content that runs between commercials and plays like entertainment programming.

"In our presentation, there is relentless integration between our talent and clients," MTV Networks Chairman and CEO Judy McGrath told JackMyers Media Business Report in an exclusive interview. (That talent will include Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swiftand 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 Silverman's unbridled lust in a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment that has become the year's most talked about viral video.) "We're trying to put a different spin on it. We're not just announcing shows that have already been announced. It's a shameless and willing embrace of our new commercial process: Commercial time is content time," said McGrath.

Read More inNina Spezzaferro's 18 to 24 Insights commentary

MTV Networks executives refer to this process as pod-busting, which is not entirely new to the company. Recent pod-busters include Fresh Takes, a multi-part micro-series on MTV starring Alicia Keys and created by Dove, MindShare Entertainment and MTV that ran during The Hills, and Spike's high-action micro-effort Get Moe, which has featured a number of advertisers in its storytelling, in particular Mountain Dew. (McGrath compares Get Moe's high-end production quality to The Bourne Identity.)

"We're finding in the research that people are watching [these productions] and noticing them and recalling the products, so it's really working," McGrath said.

"We're doing a lot more creative work with our clients, particularly in the pod-busting effort," added Hank Close, President, U.S. Ad Sales, MTV Networks. "We have great research results. Some of those executions are keeping 100 percent of the audience in the commercial pod. In the presentation, we're going to show what we've done and talk about how we are going to do more."

McGrath said this "latest generation" of commercial content is "much more creatively driven" than previous co-branding efforts. "It hangs together better, and it feels worthy of asking someone to stay and watch it because they're going to be wildly entertained.

"There is a creative win in this for all of us," she continued. "We 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 theirs."

McGrath acknowledged that some other networks are experimenting with the content-within-commercial- time format. Nevertheless, she feels that "what we are showcasing is really innovative and fresh. The work from Spike is really exceptional."

Speaking about MTV Networks overall, McGrath reflected, "I feel like we're heading into this Upfront season with real strength across all of our networks and brands. That isn't always the case. There are always leaders, but this time it feels like everything is in a really great place. We're up on all [our networks]. It feels as though we can stand there and say we know these audiences, they like what we're serving on television, they like what we're doing in digital, we didn't suffer much from the writers' strike, and we're offering up a really good complement of things to clients."

To what does she owe this across-the-board strength, especially at a time when many television networks are losing viewers? "We've 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 everyone," she explained. "We've 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 it."

"It has been very much purposeful," McGrath continued. "People expect fresh content all the time. We have to constantly think of new ways to bring them in and keep them there. We've gone quicker to series, we've ordered more episodes, we've done more of-the-moment live things on all the networks, and we're still investing in animation and the evergreen things that really drive our business.

"I don't take any of this for granted," she added. "It's making sure every team is focused on delivering buzz-worthy 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 it's connected to a big hit on television it really improves everything."

"What we find is that TV is the biggest driver of brand awareness," Close said. "What 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 is."

Mobile is another huge growth area for the company, though McGrath admits that, "in terms of generating a lot of profit at the moment, it doesn't. But it definitely is a revenue generator and a big part of a lot of the buys from some of our clients."

What mobile has brought is "reach," she continued. "Because we're a global company we're the most widely distributed on mobile. In a lot of markets it's the main lead platform. For brands all around the world it's 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 equity."

"I think [mobile] is waiting for the ad models and particularly ad formats to mature," Close offered. "They're not really there yet. What that's going to look like five years ahead, we don't know. But we think it's going to be really big business for us."

 

Copyright ©2024 MediaVillage, Inc. All rights reserved. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.