• by September 26, 2011

In this constantly changing media environment, there is a need for media companies to be nimble in the development and delivery of content to the audience. At MTV we are hyper-focused on the media consumption habits of the Millennial generation - a generation that has shattered the traditional boundaries that previously existed between the television, digital, mobile, and even gaming screens.

Media companies need to learn from the content consumption habits of today's youth. We must quickly begin to develop creative ideas that are not tied solely to a specific format (e.g. 30-minute, 1-hour, short-form online) and platform (e.g. television vs. digital). Even when a program primarily focuses on a central screen (like TV), we must make sure our creative approach allows for multi-platform engagement by the audience. It is particularly important to incorporate social media and relevant technologies that expand the audience's experience and allow it to have a personal connection. In an environment where so many options are seeking to take people's time (Facebook competes with watching a movie or playing a game) we need to be particularly cognizant of how to make the audience pay attention to our content.

MTV recently took this step with the creation of MTVX, a new cross-media group that reshapes the way we incubate, develop and produce content by taking a platform agnostic approach to new and established franchises. Formed specifically to erase the traditional formats for television, online and mobile, as well as embrace social engagement to connect MTV's content to the lives of its audience, MTVX works in concert with all of the content production teams - from linear to digital to marketing - across MTV to put forth ideas that are creatively innovative, inherently multi-platform, relevant to our audience and highly sponsorable. The result: content that benefits the audience with the best and most original creative talent, tied to the most relevant, exciting new technologies and media platforms.

David Gale, Executive Vice President of MTVX