MTV (Music Television) was set up in 1981 by John Sykes, Tom Freston and Robert Pitman/ Originally the idea of the program was to target adults by showing music videos with T.V personalities presenting in-between the tracks. However, over time the audience of the channel has changed from adults to teenagers. Nevertheless, this doesn't necessarily mean adults are no longer watching it, especially as teenagers eventually turn into adults and whats to say they aren't still watching the same T.V programs?
As a result of this, I would say that the website has been tailored to both teenagers and adults, through the fresh, clear cut design. Everything is easy to access and you can immediately find what section you're looking for. The 'On TV now' section is particularly a useful marketing tool as it allows the audience to find their favourite programs and the time they will be aired.
MTV was originally just one channel but with the increasing popularity of music and music videos they have extended their lists of channels to include MTV Base, MTV Hits, MTV Dance, MTV Rocks, MTV Classic, MTV Live and MTV +1 . These additional channels allow for MTV to target a much larger audience as each channel can play different genres thus gaining the attention of the fans of those genres.
MTV are also in control of channels such as VIVA, Comedy Central (HD, +1, Extra), Nickelodeon, Nick Replay, Nick Jr and Nicktoons. Combine this with their sister MTV channels and you find that they own a lot of channels that are directed towards children and teenagers. Although this list of channels aren't necessarily music channels, they do however provide the opportunity to advertise music and music videos. Although MTV do play a lot of music videos they also play a lot of TV shows from different genres such as: Reality series (Teen Mom, Catfish, Geordie Shore), Competitive series (Are you the one?, House of Food), Comedy series (Punk'd, Girl Code), Scripted series (Teen Wolf, Awkward, Finding Carter, Eye Candy) and Throw back series (My Wife and Kids, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). This showcases how MTV's audience has shifted from people who solely wanted to watch music videos, to people who want music videos and TV shows all in one place.
When MTV was set up in 1981it originally was designed to play rock videos. Subsequently very few black artists showcased on the program. Artists such as Rick James and David Bowie publicly questioned MTV on the lack of videos from black artsist in the hope to "break the colour barrier". However videos such as Super Freak by Rick James were rejected by MTV's head of talent and acquisition, Baker, who was black, on the grounds that the video was "a piece of crap with half naked women in it". She stated that "as a black women she did not want this video representing her people as the first black video on MTV"
It wasn't until 1983 when Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" aired on MTV and this became known as "the video that broke the colour barrier". However it was only added to MTV's 'Medium rotation' playlist (two-three airings per day) after it reached number 1 on Billboard Hot 100 chart. A month after this it was put up to 'heavy rotation' a week before the release of "Beat it". Following this, other black artists were now in 'heavy rotation' on the channel and with the release of "Thriller" by Jackson the networks support for black artists grew; subsequently more R&B and pop videos were introduced to MTV. This was eventually followed but the introduction of rap and hip hop to the channel. "Breaking the colour barrier" has allowed MTV to gain much wider audiences as previously because if music videos by black artists are played, you are likely to attract black audiences. However this idea is a little out of date now as most people listen to music by artists of all and any ethnicities. But this introduction of R&B, Pop, Rap and Hip Hop are particularly important in not only attracting audiences but also allowing the genre to grow and develop.
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