Viacom's MTV To Go After Young Male Audience - CEO
May 27 2009 - 3:11PM
Dow Jones News
Philippe Dauman, chief executive with Viacom Inc. (VIA), said
Wednesday that its MTV network has lagged in audience ratings
recently because it largely lost touch with young male audiences as
it pursued programming that appealed to young women.
"When you work anything to death, you tend to go overboard,"
said Dauman at an investor conference hosted by Sanford C.
Bernstein.
Dauman was referring to MTV's efforts on shows like "Laguna
Beach: The Real Orange County," a reality show documenting the
lives of teenagers in Southern California that attracted a largely
female audience.
He said MTV is now focused on programming geared towards young
males, and he pointed to the company's success with male audiences
through networks like Comedy Central and Spike.
Dauman also noted that its BET and VH1 networks already managed
to rejuvenate ratings performances after a slump in the third
quarter of last year by rejiggering their programming teams.
"We expect to see results [at MTV]," said Dauman.
-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5216;
nat.worden@dowjones.com