Posted in: Current News, Editor's Picks TV News, Movies, Recent Updates, TV | Tagged: carson daly, Chris McCarthy, liza koshy, mtv, music television, television, total request live, trl, tv, youtube

MTV Taps YouTube Star Liza Koshy To Host 'TRL'

Only days after announcing the return of Total Request Live (TRL) to its airwaves as part of an overall initiative to maintain and diversify its summer viewing audience, MTV announced that YouTube star and media personality Liza Koshy (Freakish) has signed a first-look deal with the network. Koshy's contract would include her hosting the revival of music network's long-running video countdown show, it also includes her executive-producing and developing original content for the channel.

Koshy is a social media phenom, having set a YouTube record for fastest to 10 million subscribers (currently sitting at over 10.7 million) and holding 45+ million followers across all of her platforms. She hosted a live pre-show for the Golden Globe Awards this year and, last year, Koshy interviewed President Barack Obama to encourage voter registration around the 2016 presidential election.

Looking to its past to reinvent its future, MTV is dusting-off their studio space in Time Square this fall and bringing back TRL on a daily basis. The network's flagship live music/entertainment program ran from 1998-2008, launching the media career of host Carson Daly, and will initially run for an hour per day with the possibility of expanding to two–three hours if the show is a success. There will also be unique content created for MTV's Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media platforms. Unlike the show's previous run, this new iteration of TRL will consist of five rotating hosts, with rapper/comedian DC Young Fly and Chicago radio host Erik Zachary joining Koshy in the rotation. MTV will also be looking to locations outside of the building for live show broadcasts and concert performances.

For MTV President Chris McCarthy, sometimes you have to look to the past to craft a brighter future: "It's the right route. When you talk to artists and they say to you, unaware of what we're doing, can you bring back 'TRL'? We'd be crazy not to reinvent that. MTV's reinvention is coming by harnessing its heritage."

PREVIOUSLY:

MTV Is Making Changes: TRL Returning, VMA 'Moonman' Is Now 'Moon Person'

MTV Sets Summer Schedule: Five New, Four Returning Series

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