Is Viacom S$%#@ed?

Wired has an interesting article How American Youth Will Screw Viacom. Now in my wildest dreams do I think that teenagers are doing this? Nope. Far from it, they are a viewer after all. There is a reason that the remote can select 500 channels. –

“The primary question we have received in recent weeks is, ‘What happened in the ad market?’,” said Dauman during yesterday’s conference call. “Advertisers in a few categories . . . pulled back their on-air spending as they adjusted their own operating plans and product launches. Low ratings at a few of our networks also contributed to the softness.”

The culprits, according to the Wall Street Journal , were MTV and VH1. And although the company expects the ratings to return soon, thanks to the season premiere of “The Hills” and the MTV Video Music Awards in September — we suspect it’s not just the economy or a short-term ratings dip that ails Viacom.

The fundamental problem could be that the “youth demo” that Viacom has hotly chased after for the last couple decades is a bust. Teens and twenty-somethings don’t watch TV anymore; they don’t read newspapers; and they’re technologically promiscuous — how can big media sell advertising against them if you can’t corner them in front of any single device?

30 years ago my partner and I here were in that ‘youth demo’ that Viacom was chasing. But like Mark Steyn’s quip, “demographics are futures” the same applies to TV viewing. Yep I am a little heavier, a little balder and have a touch of grey now. I never was however a MTV viewer. I just did not find the gyrations that entertaining. Not to say there weren’t some vids I liked. Just life demands more than just being a couch potato.

Viacom’s problem isn’t the viewer, it the product they are offering. So Ms. Schiffman, don’t fall for the corporate press kit. What your piece is really saying without saying it is that it is the viewers fault that Viacom is not riding high. Sorry doesn’t work that way. Never has.