Music City’s primary broadcast exports are no longer just radio and television variety shows.
By 2025, we believe every adult American will have immediate, direct, well-produced, first-run, daily access to an unprecedented amount of visual country music broadcasts.
Viacom-owned CMT and Lyman Hospitality Properties’ Circle network probably have more than $30 billion in assets behind them.k You will be at the forefront of providing that content.
At a time when country music has spawned more chart-topping artists than ever before, and democratization of access has redefined how and who counts as the genre’s superstars, a degree of integration, quality control, and standard-setting is needed. Is required.
At Circle and CMT, these processes have begun.
A closer look at the capital and the reach behind country music’s present and future shows that Radio Shows and TV Variety Specials are no longer the only major broadcast exports of Music City.
It would be more appropriate to say that the best content from Nashville these days represents a redefinition of radio and variety shows.
Highly accessible fan base of profitable country music
CMT is also a social media and streaming content provider with over 15 million followers and subscribers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, with over-the-top Internet access available in hundreds of millions of homes. Evolved into a cable network. Video content across all platforms was accessed over 650 million times in 2022 alone.
Over the past three years, the Circle Network has grown to 150 million viewers and an internet-enabled network with NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Roku Inc., Redbox Free Live TV, Samsung TV Plus, VIZIO SmartCast, XUMO and more .
CMT’s parent company Viacom’s total assets (owners of assets such as CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount and Showtime) are reportedly worth in the $25 billion range. It calls CMT “the #1 country music and lifestyle destination, with an unparalleled mix of programming that reflects the diverse passions of its audience. CMT is the voice of a new generation of country music fans.” .”
Circle’s parent group is Atlanta’s Gray Television Inc. and Ryman Hospitality Group. Gray owns or operates 180 stations in 113 markets nationwide. Together, the two are part of a $7 billion network.
This includes a 2022 deal in which NBCUniversal and private equity firm Atairos Group acquired a 30% stake in Opry Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Ryman Hospitality Group.
OEG-owned assets key to how Circle Network creates content include Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM 650 AM radio, Nashville, Orlando, Gatlinburg and soon Blake Shelton’s Ole Red in Las Vegas. Includes country bar brands.
Circle is touted as “a new television network dedicated to entertaining country fans around the world, featuring new shows, unforgettable live performances and classic hits.”
The ‘Wild West’ of post-pandemic content creation
Post-pandemic America is a content access wilderness, given that as many American households have access to cable TV as they do to one or more streaming portals. Additionally, 85% of Americans have access to a smartphone and subscribe to at least one video streaming service.
Tim Sims, chief revenue officer at digital marketing firm The Trade Desk, said in a 2021 press release: “But as more broadcasters launch and expand their streaming services, these gaps will only widen.”
For Drew Reifenberger, general manager of Circle Network, and Melissa Goldberg, vice president of digital, social and content production at CMT, it’s about aspiring country stars and repeat chart-topping country stars like Julia Cole. Filling these gaps with content by including Scotty McCreery from ideal.
Cole debuted at the Grand Ole Opry and hosted an event at Ole Red on Lower Broadway.
McCreery appeared on CMT’s downtown Nashville soundstage. This soundstage has been redesigned to look like his childhood living room, filled with personal belongings borrowed from his family and inspired by his life’s music career, which spanned a decade of country music. It highlights different stages.
Goldberg and Reifenberger’s background reveals a true sense of the mega-modern media evolution of the country music industry.
Prior to her four years at CMT, Goldberg worked on Dolly Parton’s social media team in the field of rock music A&R and became an expert in digital content marketing. His Reifenberger work before he joined Circle in 2020 included time spent in 5G broadband technology, artificial intelligence, and broadcast content delivery for NASCAR, the NBA, the Olympics, and more.
“Bringing fans and artists closer together has evolved beyond just showing music videos. We’re investing in the experience economy,” Reifenberger told The Tennessean.
“As someone who is well versed in the changes in how people access media, I believe that regardless of where we are accessing what we do from the network, cable TV, internet, mobile, gaming, streaming, etc. I want to be, soon, wherever the country music audience is.”
For Goldberg and Reifenberger, the community development and storytelling capabilities enabled by a country music-driven television network with enhanced broadcast capabilities across all broadcast platforms are an incredible opportunity to be involved in the growth of the genre. provide the opportunity for
Goldberg said all content CMT creates for its social media division is available across all media. The intersectionality of social networks and television platforms at a fundamental level exists in the control room of CMT’s Downtown His Nashville Content His Hub. There’s even a 9 x 16 vertically optimized screen that can specifically perform quality control on captured content. Available in studio and on mobile-first platforms.
“We are a small but mighty team, and the content we create does a lot of the work for us,” says Goldberg. Between editorial, social and video, Goldberg oversees his team of 12 people.
Turn national fans into followers of your network and digital content
A traditional tour of the terrestrial radio station, appearing only on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Or NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” is currently living up to expectations as the big his-pole success of his modern media strategy.
CMT and Circle exceed that standard.
Goldberg has developed digitally, including “Viral to Verified,” two years ago centered around a popular country star on TikTok, and “Campfire Sessions,” a sound-driven short film in which artists perform their hits in nature. emphasizes the properties of
Circle’s programming includes 30 unique properties that highlight the culture, history and lifestyle of country music of all kinds. Reifenberger cites “Clint his dialogue with Black” as notable in terms of how network-to-streaming content is developed. It has an “inside an actor’s studio” type look, with Opry members sitting down with fellow artists and digging deep into their careers.
“It’s great to see artists discussing their art and telling unheard-of stories about their children, the songwriting process and travel, rather than being interviewed. We do shows for the sake of shows.” I am not.”
Goldberg said recent stops by Scotty McCreery and hip-hop-to-country crossover artist Jelly Roll helped the network not only have a legion of followers, but also fans, fans, and others as a bellwether of how and who the content was created. It emphasizes how it examines the important engagement between artists and media. .
Within an hour, Jelly Roll went through three different content creation areas in what Goldberg called a “car wash” format, asking how he wrote the song, what he appreciates about touring life, and a few other things. I was able to answer the question of We’ll be answering fan questions and doing some acoustic performances before filming several segments for CMT’s weekly ‘Hot 20 Countdown’ program.
The popularity of country music has meant that the agility of digital media has made CMT’s digital and social teams consider both Charlie Crockett and artists so strikingly different from him, like Carrie Underwood, to care so much about broadcast bandwidth. but with equal depth, enthusiasm and scope. and broadcasting time.
For McCreery, following the success of 2022’s chart-topping single “Damn Strait,” he is pushing forward with a deluxe album version of his 2021 album, “Same Truck.” — As Goldberg puts it, working with CMT was an “instant yes.”
“CMT makes it easy to show just how diverse the genre is, thanks to the legacy of the network and its expansion into digital.”
Bet on the country’s next generation of content creation stars
Circle is currently partnering with the aforementioned Julia Cole.
Three years ago, COVID-19 forced growing artists like her to self-produce content, including streaming concerts at home and interviews on Zoom. Now her billion dollar content creators have partnered with her to give her fans the best possible service.
Through Cole, the network aims to give fans access not only to the artist, but also to the city and on-the-go locations to suit her schedule. Whether hosting an event in Panama City Beach, Florida, the CMA Fest, the Opry Stage, or hosting the Festival Lifestyle Series “Circle’s Ultimate Fanfest,” Circle’s audience has turned potential stars into performers and valued presenters. I’m here. The beginning of their mainstream careers.
Reifenberger points to the success of previously Circle-favorite artists, including recent winners and chart-toppers such as Lauren Alaina, Jimmie Allen and Carly Pearce.
Pointing to CMT’s work with recent breakout “Tennessee Orange” vocalist Megan Moloney, Goldberg said CMT’s social media “bet” on up-and-coming artists to achieve “the best moments.” , which embodies how it helped performers grow. [early] Star power peak. ”
Goldberg counts as one of the most important benefits of the evolution of country music content creation, allowing artists to serve the largest range of the genre’s fan base in the shortest amount of time.
“Whether it’s the elderly watching network television or the young streaming content, country music is universal, regardless of when, where and how you want to receive your favorite artists and sounds. It offers a very engaging and exciting experience,” says Reifenberger.
Goldberg said: “From Rainie Wilson to George Strait and Jelly Roll to Maren Morris, authentic content accessible to all types of fans expands the dynamic possibilities of country music. We are betting that the genre’s legacy and its rising stars will perform well in this new music era.”
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