MTV gets ready to change its tune once again.
For years, the word “music” in the MTV acronym has been an afterthought, a vestige of an earlier time and identity.
That’s all about to change. Again.
Under the guidance of its new president, Sean Atkins, the youth network is embarking on a redo that will put music at its center.
With ratings flat or down in a number of time periods, MTV is turning to songs as its savior. The network is prepping a new version of its classic “Unplugged” series; a music competition show in the world of hip-hop produced by “Survivor” mogul Mark Burnett; and a live-music series set in LA titled “Wonderland.” The last one is MTV’s first such program in about two decades.
Though much of the network’s success this century has come via nonscripted series with little connection to bands (“Jersey Shore,” “The Hills”) — and though original scripted programming remains the rage across much of the cable dial — MTV hopes to fare better by returning to its roots.
“The thing that kept coming back when I first started this job was, ‘Why doesn’t MTV do more music?’ ” Atkins said in an interview. “Music is our muse, our spirit animal. And it’s a great muse to have. So we’re leaning into it.”
The changes were announced at MTV’s annual upfront presentation to advertisers in New York on Thursday, a day when MTV went “retro” by plays blocks of Prince music vidoes to honor the fallen pop star.
The new direction comes at a time of uncertainty for MTV. In the fourth quarter of 2015, MTV’s average prime-time viewership came in at 454,000, down more than 50 percent from just two years before.
Music won’t be the only possible solution to MTV’s woes. The network announced that it has greenlighted scripted series including “Almost Loosely Nicole,” inspired by the life of comedian and “Girl Code” star Nicole Byers; “Sweet/Vicious,” an hourlong show about a set of characters who avenge sexual-assault crimes; and “Mary + Jane,” a comedy set in the world of pot dealers and LA hipsters.
It also has other nonscripted fare, such as a food-show executive produced by Zac Efron and a film program called “Greatest Movie Show of All Time,” with Dwayne Johnson as executive producer.
But Atkins said he’s wary that too much nonmusic fare could throw the network out of balance, and so he has set out to find as much music programming as possible.
The Burnett hip-hop show — a kind of “Shark Tank” meets “the Voice,” according to MTV — is especially intriguing, given the producer’s pioneering role in reality competition series (and that the most successful show in the genre, “American Idol,” just wound down after a ratings plummet.)
“Wonderland,” will be an hourlong show focusing on a different series of new musical and comedic acts every week.
And more music could be on the way: Other shows in development include “Year One,” an archival look at a superstar’s early days and “Studio 24,” a pairing of artist and celebrity to create a song in 24 hours.
“Unplugged,” which could be on the air in the coming months, will stoke the interest of those who came of age with artists such as Nirvana, Eric Clapton and Arrested Development breaking down their music to its acoustic basics, often with some added atmosphere.
“It won’t be carpets and candles,” Erik Flannigan, executive vice president of music and multiplatform strategy. “And it won’t be rock legends playing their catalog. What we want to do is take the attributes that made ‘Unplugged’ such a success for so many years and reimagine them for 2016.”
For all this renewed interest in music, MTV will continue to not air videos, saving those for channels such as MTVU, or digital upstarts like Vevo.
“We know there are a lot of challenges ahead,” Atkins said. “But one of the reasons I came here is because who doesn’t want to be a part of the third reinvention of MTV.”