CBS Bought the VMAs a Suit, But It Still Wished It Smelled Like Teen Spirit
Look, the logic for moving the MTV Video Music Awards to CBS is simple: follow the money.
Paramount wants its big event on the free network with the fatter ad checks. On a spreadsheet, it’s a no-brainer. But… (cue the Gen X ellipsis!)
…here’s the uncomfortable truth: the original rebels grew up and are worried about retirement. Gen X and older millennials, the ones who saw the VMAs as theirs, are now the prime demographic for CBS. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but the skaters and punks now have mortgages and crayon drawings on the fridge. That's kind of the soul-sucking part of it all. When you're juggling a boss and bills, you can't keep up with every 16-year-old pop star, and your tolerance for manufactured shennanigans just isn't what it used to be. So the move isn't a culture shock; it's a calculated, if slightly mid-life crisis inducing reflection of where the original audience is today.
When you're older, you’re the one controlling the family budget. You’re a voter. You're the target audience for cars, financial services, and pharmaceuticals. Those advertisers will pay a premium to reach you, so then it has to play by the CBS rulebook: be safe, predictable, and palatable. That's the soul-sucking trade-off. The very thing that makes the VMAs a smarter financial play is what guarantees it loses its edge. The wild, culture-defining moments we used to wait for can't happen in an environment built for minivan ads. And even if chaos broke through, the 16-year-olds who would meme it into relevance aren't watching CBS in the first place.
They're on YouTube.
Truthfully, waxing poetic about MTV's history makes me feel old, so let's talk about the future. In fact, everyone is on YouTube now, which has become the de facto home for music videos. So then maybe it’s time for a new player to pick up the baton. Vevo is already doing brilliant work with artist discovery through its visual mixtapes. A youth-focused awards show from them? Now that could be a moment.
Ultimately, the promise of these shows was the free concert that came with your cable subscription. With ticket prices and resellers making live music a luxury, there's a huge missed opportunity for must-see music on screen. Look at the cultural footprint of the Super Bowl halftime show. The appetite is there. We just need someone bold and smart enough to feed it while we wait for another Network TV nip slip. Sigh.
At any rate, wanna see something cool?
NPR once declared this 1958 clip from The Big Bopper the first music video.
But a rock history site, Teach Rock, says that it could be this experimental film from 1894!!
Oh - and for the smart and curious, here are some reads for the curious:
MTV Video Music Awards head to CBS for the first time (AP)
How the VMAs change when they move to CBS (Rolling Stone)
Turns out people actually watch the VMAs when CBS and Paramount Plus air them (AV Club)
BONUS: Here is how non-industry folks are processing it:
