Judy McGrath spent last decade developing shows for millennials like "Jersey Shore" and "Teen Mom." Now she wants to do the same for the Snapchat generation.
This June the former MTV Networks CEO's new company will debut a show and website aimed at the highly sought-after younger millennial and teen female audience.
"I'm an admirer of Vice and AwesomenessTV and believe there's room for another brand," said Ms. McGrath, referencing two video-heavy digital media companies that appeal to Millennial-aged and younger consumers.
Her brand is Astronauts Wanted, a joint venture with Sony Music focused on online video that Ms. McGrath announced last July. "We're purposefully positioning Astronauts Wanted as a brand, not a production company or a branded content agency, though those are part of it," she said.
Brand strategy
Having a brand has become important for companies in online video,
which is dominated by single personalities like PewDiePie. But
content companies increasingly want to move audiences off YouTube
to properties they own, and need a brand to do that. The same goes
for Astronauts Wanted, which plans to debut a full-fledged site for
its videos this summer.
"Right now we have the architecture. We have been working with a firm on building it and are entering into phase two or three. We'll have a slate to roll out by, let's say, June and will have the owned-and-operated in pretty good shape for that launch," Ms. McGrath said.
Over the last nine months, the New York-based company has staffed up seven people, including two execs well-versed in youth media culture, as it looks to program for today's cool kids.
"We have a team of young college students and one of the series is from a high school student. They're on the payroll and we talk to them formally every Friday. We talk to them constantly. We want them to be like scouts for us on talent and what's going on," Ms. McGrath said.
Finding Gen Z
Ms. McGrath's top scout is her former senior VP-strategic insights
and research at MTV, Nick Shore, who has spent years studying up on
youth culture.
"We're seeing the tail end of the millennials and the ascendancy now of Gen Z [loosely categorized as those under 17 years old]," said Mr. Shore, now chief creative strategist at Astronauts Wanted.
When he joined Astronauts last July, Mr. Shore's first job was to figure out what audience the company should be targeting and how. He described the mid-to-late female teen audience as "the sweet spot" for the social hyperactivity. But to program to them successfully means breaking down the fourth wall to create a dialogue between a show and its audience. It also means looking to them for talent as opposed to forcing stars upon them."It speaks a lot to the bottom-up nature of Gen Z. They are their own heroes; they're kids on Vine and YouTube and Instagram," he said.
Mr. Shore also found that Vine may carry more sway than YouTube. "Vine is edgier than YouTube, though that's hard to say because there's so much content on YouTube," Mr. Shore said, describing Gen Z as "a bit edgier" than millennials.
'Summer Break'
All of Mr. Shore's insights are represented in what Ms. McGrath
described as the company's flagship show, "Summer Break," which
Astronauts grabbed from The Chernin Group along with its
producer.
Something of a younger sibling to MTV's former reality series "Laguna Beach," the show aired its first season last summer about a group of Southern California high school graduates during the months before leaving for college. But unlike its predecessor -- or any show, really -- "Summer Break" didn't air on any specific service. Termed a "transmedia" production, the show streamed episodes on YouTube but also regularly posted content between episodes on Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram.
