MTV quietly turns 25

TEXT OF STORY

SCOTT JAGOW: I will admit it, I was part of the MTV generation. I can remember the first video that came on. I can’t believe it but that was 25 years ago today. Don’t expect MTV to make a big deal about it though. Jeff Tyler explains.

JEFF TYLER: If you’re old enough to remember this song . . .

[ Song: “Video killed the radio star . . .” ]

. . . you’re too old for MTV’s advertisers.

USC professor David Stewart says, what the network markets best is newness.

DAVID STEWART:“The next trend, the next fad, the next popular icon. And I think that’s really been a big element of their success is the ability to get out in front of the curve. To always be seen as kind of leading the next wave.”

He says youth is no longer the Holy Grail for all ad executives. The 25-to-45 year-old demographic spends the most money per person and the baby-boomer generation has proven too large and too lucrative to ignore.

MTV still attracts young impressionable minds, but analysts expect the Internet will increasingly lure kids away.

So now MySpace could kill the music video star.

I’m Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.