MTV to cease editorial product in favour of focus on social
MTV is ending its editorial output in Australia, with a spokesperson telling TMN it is following the audience’s lead and shifting its focus from web to social.
Publishing on Mtv.com.au will cease on Friday afternoon.
Soon-to-depart editor, Alice Griffin, said there’s no way her words could do justice to the sheer amount of work, effort and passion which had gone into the publication over the years.
“There’s just no way a page of words could ever do justice to my time here and to the people who have given this project their all. To the interviews we’ve had and the funny headlines we clapped ourselves on the back over. To the opinions we’ve shared that shifted how people consider the world around them – or at the very least, pissed some people off. (My dad still shakes his head, disappointed, when recalling our Love Actually takedown).
“We’ve found so many hills to die on. We’ve written about Paul Rudd’s aging face, Bridgerton’s mismanagement of race, the commercialisation of Pride, the fabled return of live music, the revival of pop-punk it couples and the ways in which living through a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic changed us forever.
“We have asked what is happening (several times). We have expected more from our politicians and our films and our musicians, and we have expected more from ourselves. We have cursed daily planners and eyebrow lamination. We have asked artists about their creative influences and what happens when we die. We have spotlighted those that don’t get nearly enough attention. We got to the bottom of 2020’s curious spike in sex dolls, and finally figured out how to use sex toys properly. We have ranked – oh, how we have ranked – and recommended and argued. We have interviewed Henry Golding, damnit.”
Griffin thanked the many writers and contributors who have assisted the publication, noting “you made this site what it is”, and said it had been an honour to work with an iconic brand that she had long admired.
MTV, she said, genuinely contributed to changing the fundamentals of music and culture.
Asked about what drove the change and how the brand will operate in Australia now, an MTV spokesperson issued the following statement to TMN: “MTV is following the audience’s lead and shifting its focus from web to social. Stay tuned for new opportunities to partner with the MTV brand and talent soon.”