PERFORMANCE/SCHEDULE ANALYSIS
(Updated as of March 18, 2009)
TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC:
People 12-24.
FEBRUARY 2009 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE
TOP PRIMETIME SHOWS:
THE CITY, AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW, DOUBLE SHOT A LOVE, MAKING THE BAND 4, ROB DYRDEK'S FANTASY FACTORY, NITRO CIRCUS, DADDY'S GIRLS, REAL WORLD, FROM GS TO GENTS, TI ROAD TO REDEPMTION
SCHEDULING STRATEGIES:
In February, THE CITY and DADDY'S GIRLS, two freshman series, continued in the 10pm and 10:30pm slots. BROMANCE continued at 9pm, but was replaced with GIRLS OF HEDSOR HALL and AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW later in the month. The lead-in 8pm show varied throughout the month.
Tuesdays in February featured A DOUBLE SHOT AT LOVE at 10pm, and later in the month, TI ROAD TO REDEMPTION and FROM G'S TO GENTS took over at 9pm and 10pm, respectively.
Wednesdays in February remain all about THE REAL WORLD (last week's episode at 9pm and the premiere at 10pm.) The 8pm program varied throughout the month.
Thursday's "10 spot" featured AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW, while Fridays and Saturdays featured a variety of reruns, movies, and other programs.
Sundays in February saw the premiere of several younger, male-skewing new series from MTV, including ROB DYRDEK'S FANTASY FACTORY, COLLEGEHUMOR SHOW, NITRO CIRCUS, and HOW'S YOUR NEWS.
PROGRAM/SCHEDULE CHANGES:
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2009:
PREMIERES:
**DADDY'S GIRLS premiered January 5, 2009.
**THE REAL WORLD premiered January 7, 2009.
**ROB DRYDEK'S FANTASY FACTORY premiered February 8, 2099, at 9pm.
**THE COLLEGEHUMOR SHOW premiered February 8, 2009, at 9:30pm.
**NITRO CIRCUS premiered February 8, 2009, at 10pm.
**HOW'S YOUR NEWS premiered February 8, 2009, at 10:30pm.
**TI'S ROAD TO REDEMPTION premiered February 10, 2009.
**DOGG AFTER DARK premiered February 17, 2009 at 9pm.
MARCH AND BEYOND:
PREMIERES:
**TAKING THE STAGE premieres March 19, 2009, at 10pm.
YEAR AGO/BIG PICTURE:
Live Primetime Ratings Comparison:
February 2009 vs. February 2008 (% Change)
H'hold M18-49 F18-49 P18-49
Monday 8-11pm -44% -48% -42% -44%
Tuesday 8-11pm -8% -15% 6% -2%
Wednesday 8-11pm -15% -12% -21% -18%
Thursday 8-11pm 19% 3% 38% 24%
Friday 8-11pm -26% -9% -33% -27%
Saturday 8-11pm -22% -30% -3% -16%
Sunday 8-11pm 15% 91% -28% 17%
MTWTFSS 8-11pm -13% -11% -14% -13%
*The Nielsen Company's National Television Audience Sample
Though numbers were down overall, it's clear that new programs and some new strategies are breathing life back into MTV's lineup.
The debut of 4 new series (COLLEGEHUMOR, HOW'S YOUR NEWS, FANTASY FACTORY, and NITRO CIRCUS) on Sunday nights, geared toward younger male demos clearly paid of. The night is up 15% from last year and saw nearly twice as many male viewers as it did a year ago.
And, with more new series recently announced and set to debut, a renewed focus on core demos (ages 12-24), and innovative branding strategies, MTV will see more positive growth in the remainder of 2009.
FEBRUARY 2009 PRIMETIME RATINGS ANALYSIS:Some solid increases in viewership from January to February. Returning series continue to score well among key demos, and new series are off to a great start for the tween-and-teen themed network.
Monday's lineup fell across the key demographics from a month ago. THE CITY continues to score consistantly above-average in its spot at 10pm and DADDY'S GIRLS comes in a close second, but lead-in programs can't bring in the same numbers. Numbers for THE CITY were slightly higher last month but we're rooting for Whitney and friends to come back strong when the show returns for a new season.
DOUBLE SHOT AT LOVE finished up strong on Tuesday nights. TI ROAD TO REDEMPTION and FROM G'S TO GENTS also scored above average but TI shows some sign of slipping later in the month.
REAL WORLD continues to dominate on Wednesday nights in the 10pm spot. Thursdays are also strong with AMERICA'S NEXT DANCE CREW and both nights come in as the strongest of the week for MTV. In both cases, the programs at 8pm and 9pm, mostly tired reruns, could use a boost.
Fridays and Saturdays, with lineups of reruns both continue to score below average for the network.
Sunday nights in February saw the debut of 4 of MTV's new series announced for 2009. (See titles above.) While off to a solid start, it's clear these series are grabbing the attention of the young male viewers, most notably NITRO CIRCUS. Does the lineup and this type of programming have real staying power? The next few months will tell.
PROGRAM ACQUISITIONS:
BEAUTY AND THE GEEK (off CW.) MTV picked up 6 episodes and may option for more cycles. And, MTV is discussing details with Fox21 and Katalyst Films and casting is happening on the new edition tentatively called BEAUTY AND THE GEEK CELEBRITY.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL
PROGRAM RENEWALS:
MTV has renewed THE REAL WORLD and THE REAL WORLD/ROAD RULES CHALLENGE for another 4 cycles each. Next stop for THE REAL WORLD is Cancun, Mexico.
MTV has renewed THE CITY and DADDY'S GIRLS.
PROGRAM CANCELLATIONS:
None announced.
ADDITIONAL SHOWS CURRENTLY AIRING:
TRUE LIFE, MADE, PARENTAL CONTROL
