# What the Heck Happened to MTV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467 "2016-12-11T20:51:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/21 "2016-12-12T01:07:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If you’re old enough to remember when MTV showed music videos, you’re too old for the target audience. The channel is aimed at those 18-34 years old. Closer to 12-21. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/22 "2016-12-12T01:33:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If you’re old enough to remember when MTV showed music videos, you’re too old for the target audience. The channel is aimed at those 18-34 years old. I’m 38. It stopped playing music videos by the time I was 20-22. > [@DigitalC](#): > > Closer to 12-21. I teach Middle School. None of them watch it. Except maybe a few watch that Teen Wolf show. It is targeted to young teens who know nothing of music. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/23 "2016-12-12T01:37:24Z")
[This video gives as good a reason as any.](http://gawker.com/5959730/mtv-exec-answers-age-old-question-why-doesnt-mtv-play-music-videos-anymore) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/24 "2016-12-12T01:40:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > [This video gives as good a reason as any.](http://gawker.com/5959730/mtv-exec-answers-age-old-question-why-doesnt-mtv-play-music-videos-anymore) That’s why i posted it on post 19 :). ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/25 "2016-12-12T01:55:25Z")
A few years ago I met a Japanese woman who was visiting the university where I work as part of some sort of faculty exchange program. She mentioned that she’d turned on MTV in her hotel room, expecting to see music videos (like she would at home), and instead found “it was all teenagers who are pregnant.” I’m not sure why Asian MTV seems to have stayed focused on music when American MTV has not, but as others have mentioned it’s been this way for many years. It’s my recollection that reality shows, game shows, and some scripted shows were a significant part of the programming by about 1995 and that music videos were getting scarce on the channel by 1998-1999. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/26 "2016-12-12T03:55:06Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > How long has it been since you’ve been back to the US Sam? Mtv hasn’t regularly played music for pretty close to twenty years > > Welcome back btw Thanks. I last left the US in 1994 but was too busy as a student here in Hawaii before that to pay much attention to MTV. When I lived in Albuquerque from 1990-91, I didn’t even own a TV set let alone have cable, and before that I was living upcountry in Thailand, which was before cable ever arrived in that country. So the last time I regularly watched MTV in the US would have been 1988. But my first time in Hawaii, 1991-94, there was a bar near campus that kept the TV tuned to MTV most of the time, so I know it was still playing mostly music videos at that time. But again, to this day MTV Taiwan plays mostly music videos. I believe so does MTV Singapore. There used to be an MTV Thailand, but really, Thai bands are awful, and it didn’t last long, although I did hear they might be planning to resurrect it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/27 "2016-12-12T03:57:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If you’re old enough to remember when MTV showed music videos, you’re too old for the target audience. The channel is aimed at those 18-34 years old. > [@DigitalC](#): > > Closer to 12-21. No, I stand by my OP, which says four-year-olds. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/28 "2016-12-12T04:13:36Z")
MTv discovered long ago that they could make more money off original programming than they could showing videos, and I accept that. But they weren’t going broke or even in trouble when they paid a couple of vee-jays and a camera guy to show videos all the time. I wonder why no one else has copied the original formula, and settled for make bucketloads of money rather than wheelbarrowfuls. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/29 "2016-12-12T04:58:41Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > But at least there’s still VH1 for the older music video crowd. What’s that you say? Maybe if you check out VH-1 Classic. The VH-1 on my cable list mostly shows “reality” programming featuring Z-list black “celebrities”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/30 "2016-12-12T05:12:30Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > MTv discovered long ago that they could make more money off original programming than they could showing videos, and I accept that. But they weren’t going broke or even in trouble when they paid a couple of vee-jays and a camera guy to show videos all the time. I wonder why no one else has copied the original formula, and settled for make bucketloads of money rather than wheelbarrowfuls. [They tried about ten years ago.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tube_Music_Network) They had 200 affiliates, on the air and on cable and satellite. They were on the air for about three years, but went out of business. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/31 "2016-12-12T05:53:18Z")
One issue was that music videos aren’t “sticky” for advertisers. You have little reason to sit through ads or, if you don’t like the current video, you leave and maybe check back in 5-10 minutes. Compared to regular programming, it was hard to sell ads since advertisers weren’t convinced that people would watch them. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/32 "2016-12-12T06:58:46Z")
MTV Japan still plays mostly videos and other music related programming. However, they do stick the occasional US-based reality show in there. When we had satellite service and I was channel surfing, almost every time I passed by that channel there was a commercial or a promo-spot for a show. Sigh. MTV-J Program Guide [http://www.mtvjapan.com/onair/timetable](http://www.mtvjapan.com/onair/timetable) ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/33 "2016-12-12T12:23:20Z")
Any kid in Asia who has MTV on cable also has a smart phone to watch videos instantly on YouTube so why does it persist on Asian tv? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/34 "2016-12-12T14:06:39Z")
I think of it as “the good ol’ days”, I mean hey, mini-movies set to rock and roll! But I keep forgetting that most of those videos were uninspired marketing tools. Or just uninspired dreck. A stoner comedian from those days summed up his generation as “Uhh, man, those last ten videos sucked. But maybe the next one’ll be good…” But still, _I want my Emmm-teee-veee…_ ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/35 "2016-12-12T14:25:07Z")
When I saw the title, I was sure this was a zombie thread. Didn’t MTV start phasing out videos for shows in the 90s and finished by the early 2000s? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/36 "2016-12-12T15:15:40Z")
MTV hasn’t focused on videos in over a decade. In the 90s they chose rather than age with their existing audience to just keep the young demo and make shows that will cater to them. It worked for a long time until broadband became ubiquitous that demo fled to YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/37 "2016-12-12T15:29:03Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > CD’s as a music medium came into existence and are now in the process of being phased out (or are in the air over the shark, about to land) in the years since MTV came about. What is the alternative? Crappy mp3 downloads? I won’t give up my CDs until someone starts carrying full quality downloads. Of course, for any music made since oh, say, 2000, I’ll never buy it anyway, so they can keep that at 96kbps mp3 for all I care. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/38 "2016-12-12T15:59:21Z")
In seeing how Youtube has become a go-to place for music videos, and how artists link to Youtube from their Facebook or Twitter accounts for their videos, one can see that MTV was intelligently ahead of its time. If it focused on music videos up through the 2000s, it’d be just about dead right now as new tech has rendered its business model archaic. The focus to shows (reality and scripted) catered to young folks probably saved it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/39 "2016-12-12T17:21:27Z")
MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have tailed off into tabloid fodder, but in the beginning they were brutally frank demonstrations of the ways in which having a baby while in high school completely rewrites a young woman’s life. Educators praised the shows, and they have been credited with helping to reduce the teen pregnancy rate in recent years. There is other worthwhile programming as well. The True Life documentary series has done a lot to showcase the lives of gay, trans, poly, and genderqueer people in accepting ways, and it has also run numerous episodes focusing on the lives of enlisted military families, showing the difficulties of deployment, recovery from serious injury, and adjustment back to the civilian world. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467/40 "2016-12-12T18:38:02Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > How is making hundreds of millions more in profit stupid? Making super expensive and over produced music videos out of mostly shitty pop songs is a money loser. Would you invest your hard earned money on that? MTV didnt make the Music videos, they just played them, it was pretty well free. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-happened-to-mtv/774467.md?page=3)