MTV launches drive to get young people to vote

NEW YORK — MTV is launching its first-ever midterm election drive to encourage young people to register and vote, hoping fans make voting a communal effort with their friends.

The youth-centric network will first publicize the effort on Aug. 20 at its annual Video Music Awards being held at Radio City Music Hall.

The effort hearkens back to MTV’s “Choose or Lose” campaign when Bill Clinton was first elected in 1992.

The interest in social activism this year among its audience convinced MTV to target the issue in a non-presidential election year, said Chris McCarthy, network president.

Voter turnout in those years is typically depressed, particularly among young people.

MTV designed its campaign around the concept of shared experiences after noting the importance young people place in them, he said.

For example, it is working with the Ford Foundation on a mobile unit where people can register, then check whether their friends are registered and encourage them to do so if they aren’t.

The network is also looking to host some 1,000 parties of different sizes across the country on election day, including larger ones with the participation of yet-tobe-named musicians.

“Voting is important,” McCarthy said. “It matters. But voting with a friend matters even more.”

MTV isn’t the cultural force that it once was. But McCarthy has engineered a turnaround in the network’s fortunes this past year, betting on reality shows and familiar brands. The network’s audience has also aged somewhat, enough so that 86 percent of its typical viewer at any time is 18 or over, or voting age.