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Remember this day…
While it likely won’t go down in any history books of authority, and many will laugh at even the thought of it, today something monumental happened. MTV has canceled it’s long running program Total Request Live, better known as TRL.
Immediately, you ask “why is this important?” TRL represented the height of late 90s “old media promotion strategy” where a hip, youth-oriented program is created and quickly deployed to reach critical viewer mass. That program is then exploited by any major entertainment player to promote their latest release, and kids flock to the store or theater that week to buy it. Advertisers fill in the gaps by pumping their teen products into the commercial breaks and PRESTO!…everyone makes money. It was all too easy…so much so that copycat programs popped up everywhere, stealing the same format and production values.
Every entertainment “big shot” took those millions of young eyeballs for granted - assumed they would always be there, all focused on the same singular promotional vehicle. No longer.
As we mark the fall of the last remnant of this once mighty strategy, it is truly fascinating to consider how much has changed. The 12-25 demographic has since become a group forged in the fires of abundant choice and daily technological evolutions. Instead of “one network to rule them all,” they are “all with networks from which to rule.” In order to market to this group, you have to go to them. They will not come to you. Let me repeat that, they will NOT COME TO YOU. There isn’t a network sticky enough to re-acquire the ratings TRL once boasted. However, should you reach them, there’s little guarantee your message will even matter. Simply being “mainstream” or “#1 on the charts” or a “fresh new brand” doesn’t have the pull it once had.
This is the business world we now live in, and as today’s teens become tomorrow’s baby boomer - their consumer habits WON’T go away. Brand strategists and marketers HAVE to pick up their game in order to compete. This means having a profile on every social network in existence, ceating campaigns that are experiences - not messages, and conducting focus groups on a weekly basis to see what kids find important and interesting. It means actively using the sames tools they use, to understand their world through THEIR eyes. Armed with this information you stand a fighting chance.
So celebrate the fall of TRL, but take a moment to truly appreciate what has taken its place. The world is now a LOT more complicated.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Could not agree more with the premise of the post. Buh bye TRL. Glad you’re gone. (And let’s not even mention CMT’s unbelievably lame knock-off MWL.)
::coughtakeahintnashvillestarcough::
But just to play Devil’s advocate - how is this really any different than SOLID GOLD going out of vogue after its time had come and gone? Bay Watch was a huge deal for a while too, but every show had its God-given lifespan even when TV really was the only game in town. Any numbers to support the overall decline of music-oriented entertainment television programming being less popular by percentage now than it was in the late 90’s? (And don’t forget that American Idol is still the #1 show on television, even with its weakening ratings.)
September 17th, 2008 at 12:19 am
The difference here is that there IS no show to take it’s place. The idea of a single program entity serving as promotional vehicle for the entertainment market at large is over. American Idol, as popular as it is, only serves the interests of 19 Mgt - not the market as a whole.
TRL was the “Ed Sullivan Show” of the 90s. It could make careers. There is no single entity can serve that purpose today. Again, American Idol serves only to launch 2 or 3 artists a year - not dozens, along with movies and other products (which was the case with TRL, Carson, Sulliven, etc). There simply aren’t enough eyeballs watching any ONE thing on a constant basis to generate those results.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Totally fair - and for the record - I wasn’t disagreeing with the concept fragmentation of media on the whole by any means… just pointing out that even the biggest shows have historically had a rise and fall.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:24 am
stupid typos.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Here’s some trivia for you:
Q: what was the FIRST video to ever be #1 on TRL?
A: Hanson, “Weird”
…of course, back then it was simply called “Total Request” and it was Carson Daly sitting in a black set for 30 minutes introducing the top 3 videos. Shortly thereafter it became the after-school special we all remember.
When TRL first became a ‘thing’ I remember thinking “surely now MTV will realize teenagers want to watch music videos and they will actually PLAY music videos.” Kids were jamming their phone lines to call in and ‘request’ the latest N Sync and Michelle Branch videos. Isn’t that the consumer demanding what they want? Apparently not to MTV, because even on TRL the videos were shown for a max of 30 seconds, so you didn’t actually get to watch the video you voted for. It didn’t really make a lot of sense then, or now.
I’m kind of upset TRL is gone, but I suppose it’s selfish. Voting on TRL used to be a great mission for me to have the Jonas Brothers fan do, and now it’s gone. Boo. Au revoir TRL!