MTV stresses 'Virtual' marketing

MTV Networks is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to embed advertising messages into its TV shows and digital content. That’s the message MTV Networks brass sent to advertisers at its upfront on Thursday, highlighting its efforts to allay advertiser fears that younger viewers are simply not watching enough television to absorb ad messages the old-fashioned way.

MTV brass tubthumped the numerous websites that it has built around its various programs, as well as more elaborate initiatives such as the interactive “Virtual Hills” offshoot of its soapy MTV skein “The Hills.”

Calling the MTV Networks “a creative engine,” Judy McGrath, chairman and CEO of MTVN, told the assembled ad execs that “there are literally no borders, no boundaries for creativity. We’re taking our content and our audience and moving with them freely across every screen.”

Marketing partnerships on multiple platforms was the rallying cry of the presentation. MTV is pushing deeper into developing ad formats and melding product logos and blurbs into the multiple MTV brands, including VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Spike TV, CMT, Logo, Nick at Nite, the N and TV Land.

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