Can MTV Stay Cool?

BUSINESSWEEK.COM: No piece of the network is under as much fire as the core MTV channels. Its younger audiences are the most easily lured away in this age of do-it-yourself music mixes, podcasting, and streaming video. MTV's ratings growth was just 5% over the past three years, according to research outfit Bernstein & Co., while VH1, with an older, more loyal audience, grew 17%. Comedy Central pulled in 10% gains, largely because of Stewart. Meanwhile, Nickelodeon's $1 billion in annual operating profits is fueled by sales of things like SpongeBob trinkets and Dora the Explorer dolls. "MTV turns 25 this year," says Peter Golder, an associate professor of marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business. "It's difficult to be a mature brand."

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