MTV Launches 'MTV Studios' After Record Growth on Linear and Digital

MTV today announced the launch of MTV Studios, a new unit focused on developing new series and re-imaginations of its most iconic hits for partners across SVOD and Linear. MTV Studios will develop and produce a full slate with a focus on beloved series, franchises and spin-offs that span MTV's 35-year history. With over 200 titles, MTV Studios has one of the largest libraries of young adult series and franchises in TV history.

MTV Studios' initial slate includes a reimagined version of the feminist icon "Daria" with writer Grace Edwards from "Inside Amy Schumer"; cult sci-fi hit "Aeon Flux" from "Teen Wolf" creator Jeff Davis; groundbreaking reality series "The Real World" with Bunim/Murray Productions; and an update of the Emmy Award-winning coming of age unscripted series "Made."

The slate will also include two new titles including "The Valley" (working title), a coming of age docuseries in the spirit of "The Hills" and "Siesta Key" which follows a group of young friends growing up in the Valley town of Nogales, Arizona, a city split in half, with one side in the United States and the other in Mexico. Also included is "MTV's Straight Up Ghosted," which follows young people trying to reconnect with lost friends, lovers and family members and confront them about why they have been ghosted.

"MTV has the biggest collection of hit youth franchises that spans more than three decades of content and over 200 titles, part of which have fueled our resurgence," said Chris McCarthy, President of MTV. "With MTV Studios, we are for the first time ever opening up this vault BEYOND our own platforms to reimagine the franchises with new partners."

MTV Studios builds on MTV's growth in the past year, as the brand has reclaimed its core of youth, music, and reality programming. MTV is currently the fastest growing network on TV, with viewership in prime time up 21% year-over-year. Additionally, MTV attracted 2.9 billion streams in 2018, up +83% YoY, and has amassed more than 350 million social followers around the globe. The brand's rapid growth across platforms offers MTV Studios' partners a vibrant marketing platform for new and reimagined co-productions alike.

MTV STUDIOS LAUNCH SLATE

"DARIA & JODIE" (wt)

The iconic animated franchise is reinvented through the eyes of heroine Daria Morgendorffer and one of her closest friends Jodie Landon. These two smart young women take on the world, with their signature satirical voice while deconstructing popular culture, social classes, gender and race.

Writer: Grace Edwards (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Loosely Exactly Nicole, Inside Amy Schumer)

Production Company: MTV Studios

"AEON FLUX"

This cult anime classic is back for a live action remake, as the badass heroine assassin Aeon Flux teams up with a group of biohacking rebels in the not too distant dystopian future to battle a brutally repressive regime and save humanity.

Executive Producers: Jeff Davis ("Teen Wolf," "Criminal Minds") and Gale Anne Hurd ("The Walking Dead," "Fear the Walking Dead")

Production Company: MTV Studios

"THE REAL WORLD"

The show that invented modern reality television returns to its roots. This reconnection to innocence for the trailblazing series strips away the polarization and cold anonymity of social media, the din of the 24-hour news cycle, and the facades of the instafamous culture to find out what happens "when seven strangers are picked to live in a house... stop being polite and start getting real."

Production Company: MTV Studios and Bunim/Murray Productions

"MADE"

The groundbreaking, Emmy-winning life makeover series returns. In a world of 2D Instagram transformations, MADE pairs talented young underdogs with experts for face to face coaching for total life, real life reinventions.

Production Company: MTV Studios

"THE VALLEY" (wt)

In the spirit of "The Hills" and "The City," this new show follows a group of 20 somethings in a classic coming of age docu-series featuring first loves, relationships and life decisions - with a twist. This group of young people is living in "The Valley" of Nogales, Arizona, a town along the border of the United States and Mexico. This is the real LIFE STORY of friends who are growing up on the edge of two countries, two cities as they share one Valley, their youth and common bond.

Production Company: MTV Studios

"MTV'S STRAIGHT UP GHOSTED"

While social media has connected the world more than ever, it has also undercut our ability to deeply connect and communicate. Today, critical relationship-ending conversations and confrontations have faded into digital dialogue or worse "ghosting." This series explores real stories of real people who vanished by blocking them, and unlocks the reality and uncomfortable truth to satisfy the ultimate question--why did you leave me?

Production Company: MTV Studios

ABOUT MTV STUDIOS

MTV Studios is a new unit of MTV, focused on developing series for SVOD and Linear distribution platforms. MTV Studios has access to one of the largest libraries of youth titles in the history of TV, with over 200+ titles allowing it to reimagine its most iconic hits and create new franchises. MTV Studios will develop and produce a full slate for external partners with a focus on beloved series, franchises and spin-offs that span MTV's 35-year history.

ABOUT MTV

MTV is the leading youth media brand inspired by music, in nearly 180 countries and 450 million homes around the world, connecting with over 350 million fans across all social media platforms. A unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), MTV operations span cable and mobile networks, live events, and the new MTV Studios unit which produces original and reimagined content for SVOD and linear networks based on MTV's library of over 200+ youth titles and franchises.

Source: Nielsen; P18-34, L3 data unless otherwise noted. Prime Mon-Sun,8p-11p. Competitive ranks based on 000s. MTV ratings/increases based on cvg rtgs. FY18 thru 5/27/18. Domo, Cross-platform social views, 1.1.18-6.17.18.

To post a comment, you must register and login.