MTV’s rebrand creates new platform for artists

MTV Australia's rebrand will allow emerging and seasoned artists and pop culture fans to have their videos featured on its channels.

Announced overnight, the youth brand will feature original clips of up to 15 seconds long onMTV, MTV Music and MTV Dance in Australia and MTV, MTV Hits and MTV Classic in New Zealand.

Titled #MTVbump, and created in partnership with global production company B-Reel Creative, the update hasbeen made to reflect changes in the mindset of international audiences, according to the company. With more people seeing themselves as global citizens, the localised approach is replaced by a worldwide unified look although some localised content and filtering remains for playlists.

Simon Bates, Vice President, MTV Australia & New Zealand toldTMNthat #MTVbump can be utilised by local artists to make announcements and tease content.

“We are so excited to open up ourhuge network to the music industry. Now via #MTVbump musicians can share their music, news, announcements, tour dates etc. quickly and easily. What’s super exciting, is that it’s for both established artists, and also Australian indie and aspiring musicians to create local content and gain exposure. We can’t wait to see what the industry and artists create.”

MTV’s Australian brand has hit a record high in terms of engagement. It boasts over 3 million social media connections, 1.7 million unique browsers online and millions more via TV.

The rebrand has meant the now iconic slogan I Want My MTV is now I Am My MTV.Itcomes 33 years after its predecessor, which was used as a promotional tool for over a decade and featured most famously in the Dire Straits song Money for Nothing.

The channel will connect its linear broadcast system to the internet to showcase social media videos on MTV in real time, saying it wants to "celebrate our audience and their talent" by spotlighting their social media videos between programming on-air and across all platforms.

The new #MTVbump initiative will the first of many ways MTV plans to open up the brand to younger viewers. Users can submit on Instagram or with Vines shared on Twitter, or go to mtvbump.com, where they can also view the “bumps” that have made it on-air around the world.

Some acts who have already created ‘bumps’ for the platform are 16-year-old Canadian singer Shawn Mendes, whose viral Vines led to him signing with Island Records in 2014, US singer-songwriter/YouTube sensation Tori Kelly and Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix.

Kerry Taylor, senior VP, Youth and Music for Viacom International Media Networks said:"#MTVbump lets us be incredibly topical, fast and localised – which is critical. No-one is bringing user generated content to air this quickly on a global scale."

To have your video featured on #MTVbump post it on either Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #MTVbump or upload it at

Click the image below to see how it works.

Head to mtvbump.comfor terms and conditions.

In addition, MTV “Art Breaks” will bring new experimental video art from emerging artists from around the world. Promos will be more visual storytelling, and "they will be shorter, louder and hyper-visual," MTV International said.

Coming shortly is "online sticker book" MTV Canvas that will help viewers create their own visual art with MTV music, backdrops and images.

Taylor concludes, "MTV has always been committed to reinvention, and it’s time to shed our skin and reinvent again. Our audience expects MTV to push boundaries and take creative risks, and we truly believe that with this rebrand MTV’s international channels will look like nothing else."