Memo to TV execs: it pays to recycle.
MTV’s three-hour morning block of “Laguna Beach” reruns is proving to be extremely popular — particularly among social media users reliving their memories of the angst-ridden “unscripted” reality show which starred Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari.
Not bad for a series that premiered in 2004, aired for only two seasons and ended in the fall of 2006.
It’s all part of MTV’s “Retro Mania” programming slate, which runs through Aug. 3 and will include repeats of “Laguna Beach” spinoff “The Hills” (2006-2010) and an even older show — the animated “Beavis & Butt-head” spinoff, “Daria,” which ended its five-year run in 2002.
“MTV has a very social audience, and we aren’t surprised to see them generating buzz around ‘Laguna,’ ” says Mark Ghuneim, the CEO of trendrr.com, a site that measures social media usage.
And, if “The Hills” and “Daria” prove to be just as successful, it could turn out that “nostalgia,” at least to the so-called “MTV Generation,” is a relative term.
“The genius part about this programming decision by MTV,” says Ghuneim, “was to brand the social conversation — not around the show, but around the [online-branded] ‘retroMTV’ theme, which gets people excited not for one program but for the block of programming under that umbrella.”
According to trendrr.com, the “Laguna Beach” repeats are particularly popular in LA, New York and Boston — and are also trending on Twitter.
“The most used hashtag with ‘Laguna’ wasn’t the show, plotline or character-specific, it was ‘#retromtv,’ ” Ghuneim says.
“This only sets the stage for ‘Daria’ and ‘The Hills’ to pick up on that momentum.”
And though “Laguna Beach” has its own Facebook page — with over 500,000 fans attesting to its popularity — Ghuneim says MTV did a nice job driving traffic to Twitter.
“It brings the audience there for a second screen experience, which is where the majority of activity took place during the show,” he says.
Once “Laguna Beach” completes its run tomorrow, it will be followed by repeats of “The Hills” (July 2- July 27) and then by selected episodes of “Daria,” which will air July 30 through Aug. 3.