MTV gives it the college try

Cabler rocks campus life with return to musicvideos

By DENISE MARTIN

In the race for the prized 18-49-year-old crowd, MTV is returning to its roots with a round-the-clock music channel just for college kids.

Twenty years ago, the music net launched as a round-the-clock music video service with some short-form programming to break up the day. But MTV has long abandoned musicvids as the heart of the network. Ditto sister web MTV2, which has taken to reairing its sister network's teen-targeted reality skeins.

As students return to college campuses, enter mtvU, proof that audiences -- and advertisers -- still want the M in MTV.

With a built-in brand name, cheap programming and a demo to die for, the college cabler, a free service to 6 million co-eds at 720 campuses, is on track to turn a fast profit.

Cost to mtvU includes hard-wiring schools to receive the channel, and on-campus production, but programming expenses are reigned in by keeping content short and sweet.

Viacom's cable group ponied up $15 million to buy mtvU (formerly College Television Network) in October 2002, promptly turning it into a network heavy on videos (read: free programming) from the kind of college-friendly fringe artists MTV cut its teeth on.

In addition, all of mtvU's original series run no longer than the length of a music video. "Stand-Ins," a show starring substitute teachers like Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Marilyn Manson as they take over a class for a day, lasts just 3 to 4 minutes.

Currently, mtvU doesn't have much competition by way of other national college-exclusive channels. There is only commercial-free U Network, which launched last week and operates on investor donations and student submissions for its programming.

And unlike the competish, mtvU benefits from its corporate parentage.

CBS and MTV provide customized news updates every half-hour. During student primetime -- 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. -- mtvU runs classic MTV series like the animated laffer "Daria." The R.J. Cutler-produced docudrama "Freshman Diaries" got a second run on mtvU after its Showtime premiere with bonus content not aired on the feevee cabler featuring select cast members talking about the show.

Net topper Stephen Friedman reveals the network is also close to snagging repeat rights to Nickelodeon hit "SpongeBob Squarepants" half-hour.

The music and backing of MTV is the key reason why, in spite of mtvU's limited reach, Madison Avenue is finding the fledgling cabler highly attractive.

Students consume mtvU on the TVs set up all over campus, in communal areas like student unions, gyms and dining halls, as well as in their dorm rooms and apartments.

MTV research indicates that students spend an average 16 minutes watching mtvU every time they visit a dining hall and 23 minutes in fitness centers, according to Nielsen. That's enough time to digest up to five of the channel's shows.

Though the 24-hour cabler can do little to more accurately measure the size of its viewing aud -- people meters aren't distributed to students in college housing -- Friedman says the net's ad base has doubled since its January relaunch as mtvU.

Friedman, an MTV Networks vet who started with the cable group as the head of strategic partnerships and public affairs in 1998, says dozens of major advertisers have aligned with the channel including Coca-Cola, Gap, GM, Nestle, Nike, Nintendo and T-Mobile. Movie studios have also jumped aboard.

Such partnerships have also helped stave off programming costs with advertisers eager co-produce content.

Avon's director of marketing and creative services Doug Zarkin works with mtvU to promote Mark, the company's line of cosmetics for young women. The relationship most recently gave way to an episode of "Cool Jobs" that profiled a Mark representative who happened to be a recent college grad.

"We couldn't have done that kind of programming anywhere else," Zarkin says. "MtvU offers us opportunities to get the attention of college students with the cachet of MTV behind it."

Tapping into that pure 18-24-year-old base, Zarkin says, outweighs the fact that mtvU reaches only a small slice of the population.

"In this competitive marketplace, it isn't about how many women you reach. It's about tuning into the young women with the right psychegraphic," he adds. "MtvU is a lifestyle brand, and soon, it will be a well-known lifestyle brand."

Still, Friedman insists the No. 1 reason students have requested the channel at their schools is the music.

"It feels like MTV 20 years ago," Friedman says. "We're able to service these kids with short-form original content and at the same time break out the next cool artist or talent."

The proof: Before MTV awarded Brit band Franz Ferdinand the trophy for breakthrough video at last month's VMAs, MtvU had the group's videos in heavy rotation.

"We played them long before they even had a U.S. label."