The youth segment of audiences worldwide holds arguably the greatest potential in terms of increasing disposable income levels as well as access to social networks and communities which form the basis of viral marketing and pop culture. While advertisers and marketers are all too keen to tap into these demographic assets, the youth segment remains among the most challenging to attract to television. Dynamic, mobile and technophile, teenagers are characterized by their short attention span and preference for self-expression and interactivity. They are also differentiated from the rest of the audience segments by their tendency to exert and fall under peer influence, and their need for inspiration from role models and idols within meaningful and relevant content. In the media landscape of today, teens are presented with a plethora of platform and content choices, and media players have to constantly innovate to allow their offerings to stand out amidst the wealth of content and paucity of attention. Some see novel content developed on the premise of interactivity and cross-platform reach as key to maximizing touch points with platform-agnostic and adolescent viewers who are always on the go. Others continue to subscribe to the age-old adage of ‘Content is King’ and rely on quality stories to attract a group they believe isn’t radically different from everyone else. “Young adult audiences aged 15-24 enjoy a great deal of choices today. But to some extent, they are really not that different from other audience segments in that they gravitate towards programming with high entertainment value, be it variety programmes, game shows, sitcoms or anime,” mused Gregory Ho, vice president and general manager of Animax, SPE Networks-Asia’s anime and youth programming pay-TV channel. Noting a rise in the popularity of anime among teenagers worldwide, Ho points to the art form’s reliance on a strong storyline as the key difference from general animation. “Anime tends to deal with complex and mature issues that youths can relate to including growing up, careers, education and relationships, and thus serves as relevant and relatable content for youths,” explained Ho. Indeed, anime titles airing on Animax provide plenty of food for serious thought to young adults: detective thriller Death Note and supernatural series Girl From Hell explore themes as sombre as justice, vengeance, the supernatural, life and death; game-spinoffs Fate/Stay Night and Final Fantasy: Advent Children focus on struggles, development, growth and survival; while investigative period anime Le Chevalier D’eon along with fashion- and female-centric Paradise Kiss highlight relationships and romance. With anime protagonists’ age, stature and concerns similar to the viewers’ own, the characters’ predicaments on screen also become identifiable and relatable. “Although the fantasy settings in anime provide entertainment, fuel imagination, and allow youths to dream, the issues highlighted are still relatable to issues that teens face in their everyday lives,” he elaborated. “Being able to relate to challenges faced by anime characters helps youths appreciate and understand their own issues in their journey of discovery, self awareness and understanding,” continued Ho. Although interactivity is commonplace for youth- targeted programming of today, Ho believes it is not a pre-requisite. “If the content is popular, interactivity among viewers will occur whether or not it is provided for by the channel, at the very least through popular blogs, social networking or community sites, and fan sites.” The popularity of Animax’s anime offerings has nevertheless seen the channel provide cross-platform content and activities such as Animax Fashion-Ability, an on-ground fashion design competition for amateurs and student designers to promote Paradise Kiss; a promotional campaign with interactive online and mobile elements for Girl From Hell; as well as full-length anime episodes and clips from titles including Blood+, Last Exile, R.O.D the TV and The Count of Monte Cristo, on its Animax Mobile services in Hong Kong and Australia. “Apart from creating buzz and word-of-mouth, media platform crossovers help to create greater engagement among youths. Be it blogs, forums, games, downloads, fan participation and contributions, all these activities ultimately help drive viewership of the linear channel,” Ho noted. In a contrasting take on attracting youth audiences in Asia, MTV Networks Asia has focused on tapping the multitude of media platforms available to maximize its content’s reach across the region. Silvia Goh, vice president, multiplatform content department, MTV Networks Asia enthused, “MTV is about multiplatformication [sic]! Using a multi-platform approach, we are able to reach out to our audience better, taking into consideration their habits and lifestyles.” She elaborated, “While we recognize that television is a powerful medium, we have to cater to a whole new group of audience which multi-tasks all the time. Through mediums like mobile and the Internet, MTV is able to reach these youth who are constantly looking for entertainment on the go, engaging them anytime, anywhere. This ultimately increases the reach and awareness of our programs.” Goh points to a host of MTV shows including MTV Cribs, Pimp My Ride, Room 401, Punk’d, The Hills and My Super Sweet 16 to demonstrate MTV’s multi-platform approach to content. A prime example comes in the form of Room 401, a show which sees Hollywood celebrities Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg pull horror film-type scares on unsuspecting victims. Besides airing on various MTV channels in the region, content from the show is available via mobile in Singapore (M1), Malaysia (Maxis), and Cambodia (QBcube). MTV Networks Asia also syndicated media players on third party websites such as GG Game to air the show while players surf or wait for gaming partners online. Punk’d, a similar show featuring Kutcher’s tricks on other Hollywood celebrities, has older seasons of the series made available for purchase on iTunes. For teenage drama The Hills, MTV provides special made-for-web videos ‘After Shows’ online to showcase cast members, video clips on the MTV Mobile service, as well as Virtual Hills, an extension of the show into a 3D virtual world populated by viewers and cast members using 3D avatars. Likewise, series My Super Sweet 16 offers episode recaps and summaries, photo galleries as well as exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast members online. In addition, the blog and forum online further drive viewer participation and feedback. Having found that 25-50% of media consumption by youth in Asia takes place online, MTV Networks Asia has identified the Internet as an important channel to reach its target audience. “Interactivity provides the flexibility to engage audiences in innovative ways for greater impact. Interactive elements such as Flash games and user generated content sharing facilities offer greater engagement,” added Goh. In Singapore, MediaCorp’s Channel U balances its role as a free-to-air mass entertainment channel with a youth skew that still substantially differentiates it from the company’s flagship mass entertainment channel, Channel 8. “Free-to-air TV is still mass media, and if the channel is positioned as strictly for the youth, it is likely to lose its share of the mass TV market,” highlighted Paul Chan, vice president, network programming and promotions (Chinese broadcast), MediaCorp TV. While both Channel U and 8 offer Chinese entertainment, MediaCorp has characterized the former with a generous helping of programmes on youth interests including music and reality shows, as well as idol dramas to attract the relatively youthful audience that it set out to draw. Still riding the wave of reality contest programming, Channel U features a bevy of original talent search shows including new showbiz talent contest U Are The One, as well as returning singing talent search shows Project SuperStar and Campus SuperStar, both of which are returning for the third season, as well as the second season of SuperBand. In addition to reality programming, S-POP Hurray, a music variety programme showcasing local music and musicians, has also proven popular among viewers. “The reality genre is still all the rage, and music is a strong genre that resonates with youth. We’ve enjoyed high viewership with music variety programmes and our successful formats are being brought back for new seasons,” said Chan. Channel U has included its fair share of interactivity and cross media capabilities to enhance its progamme offerings, notably viewer telepolls via short message service (SMS) in various talent search shows including U Are The One, Project SuperStar and Campus SuperStar. Interestingly, Channel U’s recently produced youth travel series Adventure Clicks saw a new approach to interactivity that allowed viewers to shape the programme. In addition to being able to chat and interact with the show’s ‘U Travelers’ who are on the move, viewers are able to suggest locations to visit and food to try via blogs. In turn, video clips and photos shot by the ‘U Travelers’ are displayed on the show’s website and updated regularly to enhance the virtual experience. “Involving viewers as ‘producers’ of the show is one of the compelling ways to keep youth audiences coming back to the channel,” observed Chan. With interactivity and cross-platform deemed as enhancements, the quality of the TV show remains the determining factor of the content’s ability to draw and retain youth audiences. “It is good to provide some sort of interactivity, but a compelling TV show with great entertainment value remains the key success element to any TV producer. No amount of interactivity and new media enhancements can save a show otherwise,” he concluded.