MTV: In flux?
MTV is (finally) launching a social networking site, called Flux. Looks like the URL will be here, but the look and feel may be more like the Italian site, here.
Given the resources and space they occupied in the market, it is hard to believe that MTV was not able to keep pace and see MySpace coming. Michiel Bakker, managing director of MTV in the UK and Ireland, does not seem so concerned with MySpace's 90 million member first-mover advantage:
Seeing the speed at which Bebo emerged, or YouTube exploded out of nowhere, in this space we don't feel we have to be the first mover. We have to create something unique and different.
Unlike Wal-Mart's disasterous attempt, however, MTV has a legitimate reason to be in the social networking space and stands half a chance of success, simply based on the advertising and promotional power that they can put behind this effort, if they put their minds to it. And it looks like that are:
MTV Flux, which follows the launch this year of the on-demand MTV Overdrive broadband service, would be the first service to let users "influence an entire channel and upload their content to be seen in a television environment", Mr Bakker said.
The TV channel, which will launch later on September 6, will have no traditional schedule. It will be overseen by a controller, however, to ensure it abides by broadcasting regulations and MTV will monitor all user-generated content. The channel will carry advertising and users will not be charged for signing up to the website. Mr Bakker said MTV, part of Viacom, hoped Flux would "offer advertisers the chance to follow consumers around", saying advertisers had shown interest in Flux as a means of targeting the hard-to-reach 16 to 24-year-old audience. "At the end of the day, all of our channels might be Fluxed. It might be the redefinition of our television channels," he said. Here's how Media Post's Ross Fadner wrote up the FT report:
The Financial Times reports that MTV has officially made its first big move into social networking, the area dominated by News Corp.'s MySpace. Today, the Viacom company unveiled MTV Flux, a television channel devoted to user-generated content. The service borrows from ideas tested on Web sites in Japan and Italy; it will launch initially in the UK, but will be "monitored very closely" to determine whether it could be successful in other countries. Flux allows people to exchange messages and video clips by computer and mobile phone. It also shows content like music videos chosen by its audience, who display their own videos and messages alongside.
Clearly, MTV's core audience is eroding, thanks to MySpace, YouTube Google Video and other hangouts on the Web. As young media consumers spend more time on the Web, the company realizes it needs more interactive/community features. MTV executives are touting Flux as the first channel that lets users upload their content in a television format. But does that generation really care about television? They'd probably rather have their video passed around YouTube. FT articles: MTV tries to shape model for a market in flux, MTV in play for MySpace generation
Technorati Tags: social.networks, mtv
Monday, July 24, 2006
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