Facebook and MTV have announced a new partnership that they hope will help broaden the audience of the social media site’s Watch tab — and it’s a reboot that anyone who has lived through the ’90s definitely remembers.
The two companies are going to ask us all, once more, to ponder what happens when a group of strangers stop being polite and start being real. Twenty-six years after the first season debuted, MTV’s The Real World is getting a new life on Facebook’s online streaming channel.
The news was announced during a trade show in Cannes, France, reported The Verge . The plan is to revive the show on the Watch tab on Facebook sometime in spring of 2019 — just in time for spring break, no doubt.
The show will reportedly take place in three separate countries, spanning two different continents. Separate groups of housemates will be living in the United States, Mexico, and Thailand.
This is one of the biggest shows announced yet for the Watch tab on Facebook. Other programs have been more news or sports related, with a smattering of documentaries, cartoons, dramas, and other shows thrown in the mix. No regular programming has really taken off, however, but Facebook is optimistic that the reboot of The Real World could be a game-changer.
“ The Real World made history as the world’s first original reality show and trailblazing social experiment — and we’re thrilled to reboot the show for today’s audiences — representing and amplifying the real life, real people, real places and real social tensions of each country,” Facebook’s head of content planning and strategy Matthew Henick said, according to reporting from Deadline .
The move by Facebook to acquire a known brand like The Real World will likely help boost traffic to the Watch channel. The Real World first aired in 1992 and encapsulated audiences with its housemates’ crazy antics, often with alcohol thrown into the mix. But the show also delved into serious topics, bringing to the forefront (for many viewers for the first time) the topic of HIV and AIDS, as reporting from ET Online points out.
The Watch tab began in August 2017. At the time, Facebook said it would be dedicating around $1 billion to invest in the online television channel.
Facebook also announced another reality show program for the channel — a show that will be called The World’s Most Amazing Dog, original programming content that will share the stories of dogs and their owners from around the globe.