Issue 12, vol. 2 - August 2006

One of the most compelling stories about MTV’s launch here in Canada was that the new channel would be airing some of the MTV produced shows that have been hugely popular with American youth, but had yet to hit the pop culture radar here at home.

What’s not so surprising then is what appears to be the smash success of Season 2 of Laguna Beach with the teens and twenty-something groups. We’re seeing Laguna Beach, and the summer spin-off The Hills, becoming must-see TV for Canadian youth coast-to-coast. “OMG! Lauren HAS to dump Jason!” can be seen on Messenger windows everywhere. In the US, The Hills became the Top Program on MTV’s Overdrive earning more than 1 million streams to date, and the series premiere earned a 3.2 rating among the 12-34 group, reaching over 2.9 million viewers.

Teen dramas are nothing new, you could argue that Laguna Beach and The Hills are just formulaic copies of Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, and The O.C. – and with the huge success of The O.C. in 2003, and now Laguna Beach and The Hills, it’s certainly clear that teen dramas resonate with 13 – 29 year olds across the board.

But what’s so cool about Laguna Beach and The Hills is the format of the show. It’s technically a reality TV show – these aren’t actors and the show apparently highlights the real lives of these kids – but it’s shot in such a way that it feels like a written TV drama. With multiple camera angles, close-ups, great editing, even better directing, and a cool soundtrack, Laguna Beach and The Hills don’t feel like anything on Prime Time TV right now.

Although MTV in Canada has yet to release any measured media numbers publicly, our expectation is that both Laguna Beach and The Hills will show good results in the Canadian market. And with an all-new cast joining Laguna Beach for Season 3, premiering September 6 at 10 pm ET/PT (only a couple of weeks after the US premiere August 16), these shows will only continue to perform as a notable aspect of youth culture here in Canada.

The Hills, Season 1 Episode 8, will air this Wednesday at 10 pm ET/Pt. Don’t miss it. It’s a good one.

Wait a minute… you haven’t downloaded old episodes of “Laguna Beach” and been PVRing “The Hills”? Well, I guess we’ll back it up one step for you. The popularity of these shows reflects so many trends that we couldn’t resist throwing a few numbers your way and making a book recommendation too.

1. Reality TV is big, common and not seen as unusual anymore. Shows like those featured here, (not to mention niche fare like Hell’s Kitchen, So You Think You Can Dance and Canada’s Next Top Model), reflect the ability for reality TV to be incredibly diverse and reach a variety of niche audiences, often on niche networks.

2. Young people watch TV as many as 7 different ways with the average being 2 different ways in a week. They consume TV on a TV, computer or handheld device like a cell phone or iPod. They record it, download it and or buy it on DVD. While not everyone is buying shows for their iPod or downloading rips on Bit Torrent sites, enough young people are here to create the thin edge of the wedge. People want what they want when they want it and you can count on consumers only being more demanding over time.

3. Chris Anderson of Wired Magazine published a story about ‘The Long Tail’ that was recently turned into a book. If you are unfamiliar, the long tail is really about access: while a physical store can only carry 10,000 titles (of books or DVD’s or CD’s or any other content format), a virtual store can carry any, or every, title in existence. If you can access more content, that means there is more content for every type of interest. The obscure book is as easy to access as the mainstream one so suddenly, the mainstream isn’t as popular as it once was and the obscure can have a long and successful life of sales. Check out the blog here: www.thelongtail.com. His August 5th entry is particularly good at pointing out how much less mainstream the mainstream truly is.

What does it all mean? No matter whether you look at the content of these types of shows, the way they are watched or the macro trends they are part of, one thing is for certain: We will see more shows like “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills”, they will become popular with a good sized, but slightly niche, audience and they will be watched in the manner most convenient to consumers.