When Tween & Teen Brands Collide
Posted by anastasia on 09-11-2008
Yesterday's Essentials post about Jordin Sparks and her remarks at the VMAs provoked some interesting discussion in the comments about this year's VMAs and the issue of tween/teen/twentysomething overlap. Izzy pointed out:
I was kinda upset at Nickelodeon for trying to prompt kids on Nick (the cast of iCarly "inviting" kids to watch the VMAs) – and then having adult topics in Russell Brand's opening (ahem, "self gratification" ahem). I was disappointed they would slyly pull kids to be viewing audience for content not suitable for U13 tater tots.
While LizB said:
I also thought the MTV awards didn't know what they wanted. Given Brand's humor, and given the audience for Twilight, Jonas Brothers, and HSM — well. I don't think the 2 audiences appreciated each other.
We've written on Ypulse that just as college students make their beds with SpongeBob or Sesame Street sheets, older teens *heart* The Jonas Bros., HSM, Hannah and the rest. But the core audience for tween entertainment is still screaming 8-13 year olds, and inviting them to watch a show with adult humor not only exposes younger viewers to inappropriate content but may leave both audiences unsatisfied. I also think MTV's version of HSM, "The American Mall" flopped with its core audience of older teens because it was too earnestly aimed at them. It's ok for them (older teens) to *heart* something for younger tweens, but that doesn't mean they want their own version.
On the flipside, Disney has been marketing HSM 3 on MySpace, which is a site for users 14 and up. We know that lots of tweens are lying about their age and have MySpace accounts — is marketing tween content on the social networking site quietly admitting this or an attempt to go after the older teens who *heart* tween fare.
What do you think? Should these media companies promote squeaky clean tween fare on sites for older teens? Should MTV be promoting the vmas on Nickelodeon? Does mixing these audiences dilute or grow Disney/Nick and MTV's brands?
Categorized under: TV, Tweens, Web
September 11th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
A lot of the Disney brands border on the Tween/Teen/Pop Chart right now. Miley's new album can be seen as a cross over pop record reaching audiences spanning many generational gaps. Same goes for the Jonas Bros.
Disney knows kids are on Myspace and things spread faster over there than say on a Tween SocNet.
Again, the responsibility relies on the parents. Should their tween children be watching a show about pop culture that includes TI, Lil Wayne, Kid Rock, etc from 9-11pm on a school night anyway?
The MTV marketers are not dumb, they got every young demo watching their show and the ratings were up from last year. I do not see them complaining.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Mmm. I totally see what you're saying, but at the same time… where's the responsible practice? Does that even matter anymore? < then again, did it ever really exist in the first place? Sigh.
One can't help but feel disappointment as certain 'big dogs' in the industry shrug at whatever responsibility they should have (as a power house). Where's "Uncle Ben" (think Spidey, not rice) when you need him?
I'm just wishing for companies that create/share content to hold themselves to some sort of responsible/high-road/moral policy (greater good, and what naught), for their young & impressionable demographic. Viacom should have known better than to enlist tween stars of tween shows on a tween network to help lure kids over to Mtv for their adult-content awards show, which has been notorious for rude behavior, HUGE advertising, teen+ content, and an MC who has admitted to being a heroine addict, as well as having dressed up like Osama Bin Laden (which got him fired by Mtv). I can't imagine when the Nick folks were promoting MTV they were telling themselves that Brand would be a class-act… someone funny, entertaining, and completely appropriate for twenty-somethings, teens, and of course, those tweens they invited to the viewing-party.
I know, I know. Where are the parents? I've been asking that too… But until we figure out where these parents are or what they're thinking (I think the Common Sense Media site should be automatically programmed into browsers & cell phones for parents immediate aid), maybe companies peddling content should uphold some sort of integrity.
Overall, for the biz side of things… sure, money & stats, MTV/Viacom scored. Well played. But for holding any shred of decency for the tween demographic they "invited" over from Nick? Boo.
Ah well. On to shows about 16 year olds having babies…
(Sorry for the ramble, lol)
July 15th, 2009 at 11:45 am
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