PBS looking for teen audience online

PBS is taking the council of teens. Conor Reynolds, a member of PBS' Teen Council, wrote a short essay for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in which he talked about PBS' strategies to attract younger audience members. As you might suspect, their strategy is to go digital - offering clips of shows via YouTube or via free downloads on iTunes. It's a "hang out where the kids hang out" strategy that has, at the very least, attracted Conor Reynolds to show interest in the network. There is, of course, a major problem with this strategy. If we take the metaphor a little further, being the creepy, middle-aged guy hanging out where the kids hang out isn't going to do anything for your audience numbers.

PBS needs to get their Teen Council thinking programming, not delivery mechanisms for tired, boomer programming. PBS has needed to rethink its niche, its audience and its content for a long while now. They're not without interesting programming. P.O.V. and Independent Lens come to mind, but they're getting scooped left and right by the Discovery Channel, Bravo, HBO and Showtime. (How is it that Showtime thought to make This American Life a television series before anyone involved in public television did?) PBS, you've got the fertile, young minds there. Now, suck them dry.

[Via YPulse]