Business & Games: The Blog

In 2006, the infamous ‘Laguna Beach‘ world was launched as a virtual world based on the Laguna Beach MTV series. But the MTV involvement with virtual environments just started there, and has since then build up a long list of virtual world ventures, including the two most recent additions vMTV and MTV house.

Of course MTV is well known for their experiements with reality, and have, as of 2007, seriously increased their attention towards the (social) internet. As the most dominant, worldwide television platform they were amongst the first to see their television usage drop (this year for the fourth year in a row). On the other hand, in July 2007 the music portal site of MTV had 8.5 million visitors, versus 23 million on Yahoo!’s music service, and roughly 21 million on the mySpace social network.

On losing so much ground as ‘the source for music’, executive vice president of entertainment for the media-buying firm Starcom MediaVest Laura Caraccioli-Davis said: “They [MTV] were the innovators, and now they’re kind of a step behind, … The brands that are talking to this audience are forced to innovate every day. MTV stayed still for a second too long.”

So are it just these metaphorical seconds that have pushed MTV into the rigorous adoption of Virtual Worlds? Some will argue virtual worlds with their ‘new internet promise’ were simply an opportunity MTV couldn’t afford to miss out on. However, looking at the brand MTV, I think their interest in virtual worlds is more than that:

1. The demographics fit - The audience MTV wants to attract is online, and ‘understands’ virtual worlds with little effort. The 18 to 24 market is well represented in virtual world communities and a segment which is increasingly hard to reach through traditional media.
2. MTV is a cross media brand - MTV started out on television, but has long since moved to print, events, sponsoring, music production (MTV unplugged series for instance) and of course the internet. This means any virtual world venture is never isolated, and has huge reach into their target audience through cross-media channels.
3. MTV knows what it wants from virtual worlds - Though undoubtedly they are still experimenting with their various monetizing models, MTV has a clear goal for their presence. They want to (re-) connect with the segment they lost on TV, and conquer market share in online music distribution. Virtual Worlds provide that opportunity as a ‘remarkable’ way to connect to users through profile and brand visualisation, and get them to sign up for the ‘MTV Flux’ social network for instance. Furthermore the virtual teen worlds provide an opportunity to introduce the MTV brand to a new generation, less likely to find MTV naturally through television.
4. The social context of music provides content - The community worlds such as Second Life, There.com and Lively are usually accused of being ‘goalless’ - aimlessly wandering through virtual landscapes without a clear goal. MTV’s vLES solved this problem by offering clear content from the beginning: performing bands, or music rooms people can visit for a specific ’style’ of music while socializing through avatars.
5. The message fits the sender (and product) - MTV is a dynamic, innovative brand. You’d expect to find them in virtual worlds. Some brands have a virtual presence and it just doesn’t fit their corporate message, or the product they are selling creating what marketing guru Seth Godin refers to as the ‘Meatball Sundae‘ - a mismatch between brand and medium/message.

MTV’s quest to reach out and create a deeper engagement with their users, and more importantly, monetize the process has rapidly made them one of the most persistent, and most represented companies inside virtual environments. And it seems like they are at least somewhat optimistic about results. With a presence in Habbo, Gaia online, Second Life, There.com (and some others) and no less than 4 virtual worlds of their own MTV is an interesting case on its own for the virtual world industry.

Original Post: http://digado.nl/mtv-hearts-virtual-worlds.html