• by Paul Gough , February 9, 2003

With its best month ever in ratings just past, VH1 is planning to repeat the success with a new slate of programming into spring.

The Viacom channel’s average primetime household ratings rose 67% in January to a 0.5, with an even greater increase to 0.4 in adults 18-49. VH1 averaged 239,000 households in total day, up 42% over the same period a year ago, and 218,000 of them were between 18 and 49.

VH1 General Manager Christina Norman tied the ratings increases to a new slate of programming instituted since she and MTV/VH1 Entertainment President Brian Graden started a little less than a year ago. The January 2003 programming – much of it having premiered in December 2002 – included a marathon of I Love the 80s and the premieres of Driven and All Access. The specials took VH1 viewers behind the scenes at the American Music Awards and looked at rock ‘n’ roll and astrology.

“Good programming draws viewers. It’s an age-old adage,” Norman said.

It’s programming that takes it beyond VH1’s roots as an adults 18-49 video channel. VH1’s new lineup touts reality and what channel executives call trends in popular culture, even if it takes them slightly away from music.

“Music is definitely at the heart of everything we do, music inspired by rock ‘n’ roll. Music is such a strong driver of popular culture,” she said.

“We’re rooted in music but telling great stories,” said Norman. Stories that have newer relevance for the audience. The new shows, which premiere soon, include a reality-based show called Destination Diva: The Search for a Superstar, VH1’s cross between its Diva shows and American Idol and Star Search. Finalists from throughout the country are filmed at a “Diva Boot Camp” where they will learn about performance and on-stage style and the winner will debut in VH1’s next Diva program in May.

“We’re taking a franchise [Divas] and making it new again,” said Norman, acknowledging some sort of debt to the success of shows like American Idol. But she says there’s something natural about VH1 doing it.

“We’ve been able to give the audience’s rock ‘n’ roll fantasies a voice,” she said.

Other programs scheduled to premiere in the next few months include a documentary on the love affair between rock ‘n’ roll and the automobile, a behind-the-scenes video of Shania Twain’s life on the road; a documentary on the lives of six karaoke performers; and the history of hip-hop music.