In the weeks preceding the Video Music Awards (VMA), MTV revived on Instagram iconic moments: Eminem with its clone army in 2000, the 2005 Backstreet Boys electing in 2005 and photos of Destiny’s Child, *Nsync, Pink and Britney Spears in past awards. Nostalgia had been accompanied by voting requests for the 2025 edition, always marking @cbs and @paramountplus.
An excerpt from the book (2004) recovered by analyst Jen Topping, remembered the spirit of the time: MTV sought to be a “360 degree experience”: music and young lifestyle on multiple platforms, from TV to mobile.
But it was complement to linear TV, it doesn’t threaten. The space for musical discovery was still serendipitous, almost community. Until YouTube emerged in 2005 and dismantling this logic.
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This year, VMA was shown by CBS for the first time and reached 5.5 million viewers, the highest audience in six years (42% high). The number includes simultaneous transmission on MTV and Paramount+.
Comparison with 2024, when the event was restricted to MTV and 11 other cable channels, shows the obvious: audience only grew because it migrated to open TV, available at 125 million homes, against half of this to MTV.
It is important to highlight the historical context that goes through decades to understand why Paramount Skydance studies reviving linear brands such as MTV and Central Comedy.
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Last week, the Wall Street Journal That David Ellison, the new CEO of Paramount, wants to answer an anachronistic question: is it possible to recover MTV’s cultural strength in a scenario where YouTube has already monopolized the musical discovery?
The answer goes through three fronts: extract value from files and linear brands, understand YouTube distribution logic and, above all, use Paramount Skydance to rebuild scale and relevance.
Save MTV or just use it as a cultural bait?
The WSJ revealed that Ellison met with former MTV executives this year and challenged them to reinsert the brand in the center of culture. Suggestions have varied from migrating to live events to turn the site into a hardcore fans musical streaming, or even reposition the channel as a music file from the 80s and 90s.
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There is even external interest in partnerships, according to Ellison, including calls from businessman Irving Azoff and Lucian Grainge (CEO of Universal Music).
Three weeks before VMA, Mike Shields brought the right provocation: MTV is no longer a destination for music videos. They follow as powerful cultural force, but on Youtube, not on cable TV.
And with Youtube dominating connected TV streaming, clips of artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B and Sabrina Carpenter are more valuable than ever to advertisers.
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Why? As Shields explains, they are premium content, Brand-Safe and with massive premiere audience, almost as a scheduled time TV programming.
Despite the appeal, there is still resistance: as Kasha Cacy, director of Known, said in Cannes, “The content of youtube is unpredictable. Brands do not know where they will appear. This is still an obstacle”.
The rise and fall of a musical empire
The appointment music videos marked as suggested Mike Shields have never been a sustainable model for MTV.
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On the eve of the 2022 VMA, Yahoo Finance brought an excellent to show how much the channel was worth when it started compared to the 2020s post.
In 1982, the music industry faced a brutal crisis: 50%fall sales. But MTV, in just its second year, tripled its subscriber base (from three to nine million). Two years later, it profited $ 4.5 million in the fourth quarter alone. The annual revenue jumped from US $ 27.7 million (1983) to US $ 42 million (1984).
Viacom noticed the potential and bought the network in 1985 for $ 667.5 million. In 1992, MTV reached its peak: 112 million homes and $ 400 million in revenues.
In the late 1990s, music began to migrate to the internet. Iconic programs like “Yo! MTV Raps” e “120 Minutes” were canceled. The network bet on reality shows like “The Real World” (1992) to survive.
It worked for a while. In 1999, Viacom recorded 85% higher profits, driven by MTV. The strategy, however, had a cost: as Jen Topping observed, “The non -musical programming encouraged the audience to search YouTube a place to discover new music”.
MTV is no longer a musical destination. And Youtube inherited his role.
Topping highlights how homepage today is similar to Spotify and goes beyond, recommending new releases and artists efficiently.
For the analyst, the platform has captured two fundamental pillars of the original MTV business:
- Global tribes in search of clips and musical discovery
- Record labels that want control over their IP and monetization
MTV’s business model became obsolete. Youtube dominated not only the exhibition, but the economy behind the song.
Ellison Mira WBD: War of Cash Acquisitions
David Ellison doesn’t just want to revitalize MTV. , Paramount Skydance prepares a majority offer in cash by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), taking advantage of the cash obtained with the appreciation of Oracle’s actions.
The play complicates WBD CEO’s plans, David Zaslav, who wanted on two until April 2026. Ellison seeks to expand the range of Paramount’s streaming and, at the same time, revitalize cable TV brands, a strategy against the sector tide.
WBD’s market value is $ 33 billion, with additional debts. There are still no details about the proposal according to WSJ, but the market already reacts: WBD shares rose 33%, and Paramount’s, 16%.
Even if the offer is accepted, there is no guarantee of regulatory approval, even with the Disney-Fox and Amazon-MGM precedents. Irony: Zaslav had been devaluing TV assets to make HBO Max and the studio more attractive to buyers such as NBCuniversal.
Now, with Paramount entering the game before WBD officialized its sale, a bass war is imminent.
Paramount + WBD: The biggest agreement from Disney-Fox
As Topping highlighted, a Paramount/WBD merger would create a giant with scale and infrastructure (via Oracle) to compete with Netflix, Amazon and Youtube in technical capacity, one of the greatest weaknesses of traditional studios pointed out by the analyst.
Puck News Matt Belloni was already warning: Skydance was the real survival of Paramount. Private Equity has capital, but not Ellison’s passion for cinema and TV.
ADI TIWARY RESUMIU O CLIMA: “Hollywood’s favorite hobby is back: billionaire studio music chairs”.
The possible offer by WBD would be the largest consolidation in the sector since Disney-Fox, now with Ellison’s capital and a 2025 manual.
What is at stake: Library, Scale and Avod. But what about MTV?
In Hernan Lopez’s view, the fusion would unite HBO’s prestige with the Paramount/CBS scale. Combined participation in American streaming would approach Prime Video, and only Paramount and Youtube have consolidated AVod services, a crucial advantage against Tiktok and Instagram, which.
Wesley Edits questions Ellison’s strategy, arguing that she disregards what MTV has given her cultural weight: risk, boldness and street connection. Reviving the brand does not only mean exploring the nostalgia of generation X, but recognizing two forces that define consumption today: the fragmentation of content and the convergence between platforms.
As it well warned topping, the TV goes through a structural rupture, and only those who know how to navigate between fragmentation and convergence will have a chance to remain relevant.
