MTV launching "TRL"-style daily live show
Nearly a decade after MTV axed “TRL,” the network’s new boss is looking to resurrect the afternoon live TV staple.
A new daily afternoon show, tentatively titled “MTV Live,” will debut June 12 on the network, broadcasting live from the same Times Square studio that served as the home of “TRL” from 1998 to 2008, MTV president Chris McCarthy said in an interview with AdWeek.
“That ability to be live, in culture -- not responding to it but driving it -- is where we belong,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy took the helm at MTV in October following stints at other Viacom properties including Logo and VH1. In preparation for the return of a live afternoon broadcast, he has doubled the size of the Times Square studio to create a space that can partitioned off for more versatile use -- with an eye toward up to four hours of live content broadcast each day.
Whether today’s young audience will follow is the question, but the network has found the success of turning its comedy series, “Ridiculousness,” into a live, two-hour show on Fridays, doubling its teen audience and increasing ratings in the 18-34 demographic by 50 percent.