MTV Just Coined (Another) New Word For Post-Millennials

Once upon a time, there was such a thing as the MTV Generation. But these days, the network’s numbers — and relevance within youth culture — is on the decline. For that reason, it has joined other content creators in trying to better understand what makes Generation Z tick — and given it a hip name, to boot. The network's new moniker for post-millennials: The Founders — a title MTV arrived at after asking 1,000-plus kids born after the year 2000 what they wanted to be called. According to Time, the Navigators, the Regenerators, the Builders, and the Bridge Generation all made the list, too. But ultimately, Founders seemed to best capture the spirit of this particular segment of the population. “They have this self-awareness that systems have been broken,” MTV president Sean Atkins explained to Time. “But they can’t be the generation that says we’ll break it even more.” “They’re slightly more risk-averse,” Jane Gould, MTV senior vice president of consumer insights and research, also told the outlet. She added that the generation they’re trying to appeal to has “grown up without a safety net.” Taken altogether, all those factors can naturally form the idea of a founding generation that values innovation and social awareness, and will pioneer its own path. Still, MTV explained to Time that it isn’t committing to the classification forever. There may be a rebrand headed down the pipeline eventually, particularly as more is learned about iGen's consumer behaviors. In the meantime, MTV will have to just hang out for the word to catch on, and to find out what kids these days actually want from their parent’s youth culture station. Good luck.