MTV Forms an Ad Network in an Already Crowded Market

In a market already packed to the gills with online ad networks, MTV has decided to toss its hat into the ring with its own venture, which the media company has dubbed Tribes. Aimed, naturally, at publishers focusing on music, movies, and all things youth-oriented, the company has already landed Pepsi as the charter sponsor, according to ClickZ.
Despite landing Pepsi, this seems like a spectacularly ill-advised move on MTV's part. As Dave Martin, Vice President of Interactive Media, Ignite, pointed out here last month, "Free advertising exchanges will empower advertisers to create and administer campaigns without having to pay margin to ad networks." While MTV is certainly a major channel, and has existing relationships with plenty of major advertisers, its moves online have been plagued by failure. Creating, for instance, a sub-network focused on Parenting seems so spectacularly outside the company's purview, one wonders who exactly is greenlighting these decisions.

More to the point, the company lacks the easily identifiable advantage that makes ad networks work. Compare this to LinkedIn's announcement yesterday of its own online ad network. Unlike MTV, LinkedIn has been an online company from the start. LinkedIn's audience is focused on social-networking execs. Most importantly, LinkedIn has members who are nearly all high-earning professionals. MTV has none of those things.