Savvy Marketers, Savvy Networks

Cable World, July 25, 2005

Executives with marketing backgrounds know how to get the eyeballs, and some of cable's best, such as MTV's Christina Norman, are rising to the top of networks.

By Shirley Brady

With the competition for television viewers fiercer than ever, marketers just might be the smartest choices lead networks into the next era.

A few former marketers already are making waves in cable, where most networks are led by executives who came up through the production and programming ranks, with a few run by former "suits" with law degrees or MBAs. Only a handful of cable networks today are run by former marketers, which very well may put them in the vanguard of a trend.

Take MTV president Christina Norman. She's a born multitasker with eclectic interests who oversees numerous areas--programming, marketing, ad sales, distribution--while trying to keep all her customers (affiliates, viewers, advertisers) satisfied.

Norman and other former marketers profiled here add another element to their skill sets: They are focused on getting content to as many eyeballs (and the right eyeballs) as possible. That laser focus on consumers, and how to grab them, positions these people to take advantage of the changing, ultra- competitive landscape for television content.

In Norman's case, it helps that she loves music. She quit the indie film business to run affiliate marketing and promotions for MTV before taking the reins at VH1 in April 2002. She recently returned to MTV as its president. Her rise at MTV Networks allowed her to focus on giving audiences what they want-- and when, where and how--instead of waiting months for a project to hit screens. Today, she says her boss is the viewer, who is more in control than ever, especially given that MTV's core youth demographic is leading the consumer stampede onto new platforms and technologies.

"Right now there are all these different platforms, and now the challenge is how do we travel the viewer, if you will, through all of the content?" says Norman. "How do we forge the connections between what happens on the main channel to what the wireless experience is going to be, to the DVD experience? Our audience has a huge opt-in, opt-out opportunity to customize their own version of experiencing MTV, so a 15-year-old girl in Miami is going to have a very different experience than a 21-year-old guy living on the West Coast."

MTV Networks ("and especially MTV," she says) puts the audience first in every decision it makes. "In a sense, we are all marketers," she says. "Every discussion starts with what does the audience think, what does the audience want, what is our audience saying? And that's really shaped so much of the focus of the network, but also the growth of it into the platforms that we've decided to go into."

Surreal Success at VH1

Norman was tapped as MTV's president in May because of what she accomplished in turning around VH1. She allows that VH1 was "broken" when she arrived in April 2002, stuck in a ratings slump and rotation of Behind the Music profiles with no clear identity. She gave VH1 a colorful new logo and on-screen persona, while tasking MTVN resident programming whiz Brian Graden with creating new shows to spark viewership.

The strategy worked. VH1's prime-time ratings increased 80%, and it posted its 12th consecutive quarter of growth among total viewers by the time she left. The Surreal Life and other "celebreality" programming made 2004 VH1's most-watched year. The first quarter of this year, her final hurrah, was the network's most watched quarter.

MTV Networks Music, Logo and Films Groups president Van Toffler and MTVN chairman Judy McGrath didn't tap Norman to run MTV because it needs fixing. Instead, their charge in offering the position to her: Expand the network's brand into new audiences and new platforms, or "the next new thing," as Norman puts it.

"The experience of watching MTV today is completely different from what it was three years ago, when I was at MTV," she says. "That's a great thing for our viewers. They are thirsting for this technology, they are leading the way with it. Kids always demand this stuff first, and they are demanding that we come up with great solutions.

"From my particular background, of course I feel very keenly a sense that this is a great opportunity to think about how all this content is connecting with the audience and what those opportunities are to continue those connections."

Since returning to MTV Networks' flagship channel, she's been busy getting up to speed with the channel's new media initiatives--such as MTV's Overdrive hybrid broadband network, its new interactive games division and wireless platforms--plus mega-programming initiatives such as the Live 8 global telecast in early July.

Affiliates in Mind

She's also pondering how MTV's new touch points with consumers can work for distributors. "There's always been a concern about how our new businesses help fill our affiliates' needs as well, which is why we're so actively engaged in creating VOD solutions," she says. "There's a great opportunity right now to define what this partnership is going to be like. How are affiliates' technologies best enabled by our viewers, their customers, to have this enhanced experience that isn't like anything they can have anywhere else?"