MTV doesn't play music anymore. And you know what? They're laughing all the way to the bank. Yes, we know they still play lots of music videos on their sister channels. We're talking about the flagship of youth culture. The original dream. Sure, MTV did something drastic over a decade ago when they started to shift their focus to reality television. To this day, members of Generation Y still express betrayal that MTV left music behind in favor of The Situation and the other Jersey Shore idiots. Needless to say, MTV still doesn't see it that way.
They ended 2010 with the largest year-over-year ratings gain since 1999. The heyday of Carson Daly and Fred Durst and whomever Christina Aguilera gave... well, you know the lyric. In February of that year, TRL become the official title of the show. MTV has rebounded from that. It only took a decade. In the final quarter of 2010, MTV's ratings grew 244% over the same period last year.
What shows are driving this growth? A mix of Teen Mom, Jersey Shore, and other youth targeted programming fueled the massive viewership boon. Somehow the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards saw a total of 11.4 million viewers too.
"In 2010 we've seen enormous ratings growth as a result of the process we began almost two years ago to reinvent MTV for a new generation," MTV general manager Stephen Friedman said. "We look forward to a strong 2011 when we'll further diversify our lineup with new scripted series Skins and Teen Wolf alongside returning hits like Jersey Shore and Teen Mom 2."
Even their website boomed with traffic, garnering +57 million unique visitors, which equals out to a 200% year-over-year growth. That's right. MTV is still a prime music destination if you're interested in watching the making of Katy Perry's video for "Firework". You'll pass? OK. The youth juggernaut marches on.
With or without your eyeballs.
