Is the Video Star Dead? The Role of MTV in Young People's Lives in the Context of a Changing Media Environment: A Typology of Viewers

Abstract

The article presents findings from a study that was carried out in Austria and the U.S. in 2013. It looks at MTV’s development over time and its relevance in young people’s lives and media repertoires against the background of their individual lifeworld and a diverse digitized media environment. Drawing on Bourdieu’s praxeological approach and Havighurst’s concept of developmental tasks on the theoretical level, the article presents a typology that was developed from the qualitative section of the study. Based on group discussions and in-depth interviews with 43 young people between 14–29 years in total, this typology consists of four different types of MTV viewers: the Enthusiasts, the Opportunists, the Distinction Seeking and the Nostalgists. Each type presents a different way of making sense of MTV within a person’s lifeworld condi tions and incorporating it into individual media repertoires depending on relevant developmental tasks they seek to resolve.