MTV

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MTV
key music insights
Winter 2009
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A note on research methodologies extensive
qualitative research in various forms

• 14-34 year olds
• Influentials/experts, who may be older
• In their homes/environments

11 deep dives

• small groups of friends
• groups of pre-screened young people who dont
  know each other

Focus and Friendship groups

• Private Audience Community Expert viewers who
  provide weekly online input on various topics
• Chat rooms/blogs

Online forums

• 5-10 minute intercepts around music venues
• College campus intercepts

Live/random intercepts

• Access to panel of young people who have small
  videocams to record their responses to questions
  
• Video montages captured from recordings of
  general research

Video panels/montages/ ethnographies
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Also use variety of 24/7 quantitative data
sources both proprietary and secondary
Online behavioral/ tracking studies
iTrax
Large sized surveys related to broad research
studies

• Online weekly poll among a random sample of over
  200 MTV viewers
• Covers variety of topics along ongoing check of
  musical tastes

• 3000 person survey among 12-34 year olds on
  music attitudes/behaviors
• 800 person teen survey focusing on
  influence/communication patterns
• Smaller base surveys on variety of topics such as
  politics, mental health, and economy

• 11 Eye-tracking sessions that track what users
  look at while performing various tasks on
  websites
• Tracking survey software that posts questions
  about different parts of a website and takes
  users to those sites- and tracks their behaviors

Secondary research

• On-air Nielsen Ratings among 12-34 year olds
• General attitudinal/behavioral studies MRI,
  Simmons, IAG
• Online traffic through Nielsen Net Ratings,
  Comscore, and Omniture

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Young People and Music General Findings Among
those 14-34 years old
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music is a top discussion topic- both online and
offline

• Music, followed by movies and TV, are things
  talked about most by teens, and shared most
  online

5
(mean score on scale from 1-5)
Source MTV Teen Influencer Study- Survey among
teens aged 12-17
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empowerment

technology drives access in four ways

1

• time and place
• music is more fluid, sharable and portable than
  ever before

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• finding the right music
• the long tail allows everyone to access their
  perfect niche

3

• connecting with an artist
• 11 through social networking sites and official
  artist websites, fans feel more connected to
  artists than ever before

technology
4

• access to tools of the business
• the internet allows artists to promote their
  music, sell it, connect with fans, and
  collaborate like never before

brands were once required to bring fans closer to
the music/artists they love they now need to
work in the new paradigm of fan empowerment
Source MTV Music Experience 2 study (14-34 year
olds)
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brands and traditional platforms key for new music

• More than half of MTV users do find out about new
  music from their friends- could be either in
  e-mail or chats
• But TV show brands, radio networks, and the
  brands that advertise on TV are also top sources
  for new music

How do you generally find out about new music for
the first time? ( rated "Very frequently/Frequent
ly)
MTV.com Usability Test (among current site users)
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the music experience, once linear, is now chaotic

• at its most simple it looks like this

but in reality its more dynamic
Source MTV Music Experience 2 study (14-34 year
olds)
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discoverymultiplatform

• to compete for discovery, you need to be true
  resource

social networks myspace, facebook
mobile
digital TV audio channels music choice
background of TV shows
music blogspitchfork, gorilla vs. bear
file-sharing
video games


traditional
emerging
expanding
Source MTV Music Experience 2 study (14-34 year
olds)
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exploration online new push/pull requirements
intelligent push/convenient pull is the new
requirement


I want convenient exploration
though very self-directed, they dont want to
have to work too hard


43 say
I think its great to get suggestions about what
music to listen to, as long as the recommender is
not too pushy
40 say
I like to get music recommendations that are
tailored to my personal interests
its very helpful when websites give me
suggestions on music I might like based on other
music I have downloaded or listened to
36 say

to complement the desire to explore, brands need
to intelligently push options
a peer push the most acceptedform of push
(burnlounge,sellaband)
giving them options some expected,some
unexpected
giving credit whenever music plays
a stealthpush
intuitive design
artificial intelligence
Source MTV Music Experience 2 study (14-34 year
olds)
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owning access

• to own music defined

to be able to hear it when you want to, now, in
the moment
to physically own it forever
1997
today
buy CDwhen I really care about an artist
download MP3(no DRM)
buy AAC(apple DRM)
subscription services
ringtones(cant carry over to new phone)
ringbacks (expire in 1 year)
inserted into social network profile
most permanent
most fleeting
ownership today includes temporary as well as
permanent use of a trackattitudes towards the
very nature of music are fundamentally
changingit is becoming less ownable
Source MTV Music Experience 2 study (14-34 year
olds)
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personalization is mainstream

• when asked how often they practice various music
  behaviors, almost 40 report a collaboration
  activity of some kind

ways people personalize/affect music (do at
least once a week)
survey says
32 agree I like to see how others rate an
artist's music when I'm checking it out
Source MTV Music Experience 2 study (14-34 year
olds)
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sharing isnt totally altruistic

• when they share, they also expect something back

• they want
• credit acknowledgement
• feedback comments
• ratings/scores

early adopters in particular want credit for
discovering and promoting new music
when consumers are the new broadcasters, what
does that mean for our brands?
if word of mouth recommendations are a key form
of advertising, then sharers are paying musicians
handsomely, but they also enjoy getting the
CREDIT AND VALIDATION for discovering and
promoting
Source MTV Music Experience 2 study (14-34 year
olds)
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THANKS!!