When Judy McGrath and Nick Shore talk about the impetus behind Astronauts Wanted, they sound like long-distance runners in a never-ending race. There\u2019s no finish line per se, just another generation of young people whose entertainment desires they need to decipher and outpace.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fast-paced mode that McGrath and Shore willingly chose when they departed MTV Networks back in 2013. They were well aware that while MTV had forged many a trailblazing path with young viewers, everything had changed dramatically.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s much more democratized than it ever was. There\u2019s many more places, chances, platforms, players than ever before,\u201d Astronauts Wanted Founder & President McGrath says in this joint interview with Shore by Beet.TV during the Digital Content NewFronts<\/a>. \u201cAnd I wanted to jump in and follow the audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n In what is now a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment, Astronauts Wanted can\u2019t be content with just satisfying millennials. In fact, that age cohort is almost yesterday\u2019s news.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re entering a period where millennials are aging out of the youth demo at the top end,\u201d says Shore, who is Chief Creative Strategist. Given the rise of Gen Z, \u201cEvery time a generation shifts, tastes change, stories change, the way to tell those stories changes and it almost always takes the entertainment industry off guard when that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Astronauts Wanted<\/a> sees itself as positioned at the generational inflection point and solve for the marketplace the challenge of catering to the next wave of culture seekers.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the content level of TV has risen to a point where it would be challenging to get somebody into a movie theatre,\u201d McGrath observes. \u201cYou have to do something really unique and different. Everyone\u2019s upping their game.\u201d<\/p>\n One key distinction between the MTV of yore and today\u2019s video entertainment landscape that both McGrath and Shore<\/a> relate to is that, while some TV networks are still quite meaningful and powerful, the old gates have been blown away.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are no longer the only game in town,\u201d says McGrath but \u201cin the reinvention business all the time now.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what he hopes marketers take home from the presence of Astronauts Wanted at the NewFronts, Shore says, \u201cHere comes a new generation and just like millennials reinvented entertainment, these guys are going to do it as well. I want to make them thoughtful about that and stop and think \u2018who do we talk to about that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n