Growing up with the television as my babysitter, I not only watched my daily cartoon favorites like Tom and Jerry, but religiously watched MTV and VH1 programs. MUSIC VIDEOS! Those were what kept me frequently flipping the channel to MTV or VH1.
Around 1995, MTV and VH1 both started adding more programs related to music and some not related at all. Dating and reality shows on both channels began growing and hasn’t stopped growing since. The amount of air time of music videos and musician interviews declined as reality shows increased.
Ever since the noticeable steer away from music programs, especially from the infamous MTV, viewers have been questioning why MTV calls itself music television. VH1 has also been questioned for its original television programming being music, but their logo stays the same and MTV’s has changed.
MTV officially removed “music television” from their logo recently. Removing “music television” from the logo doesn’t make us forget it still stands for “music television.” I can agree that removing the words helps MTV’s brand to be clearer on their programs, but just like VH1, we all know the programs were originally music focused. Generally, most viewers don’t refer to MTV as real music television anymore.
Tina Exarhos, MTV’s head of marketing told the Los Angeles Times, "The people who watch it today, they don't refer to MTV as music television.”
Exarhos justifies that MTV is really no longer music television and it isn’t. Branding is becoming a significant part of how companies publicize and market their business and MTV removing “music television” from their logo is an example of how every detail counts.
Personally, I don’t see how it is absolutely necessary to remove the words, because most people still know what it stands for but I can agree with MTV’s decision. Their logo is their brand and soon we might forget all together what it really means.
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