MTV2 began broadcasting as simply M2 on August 1, 1996 – MTV's 15th anniversary – with Beck's "Where It's At" being the first video to air. M2 was created ostensibly to answer critics and viewers who complained MTV didn't show music videos anymore; in reality, M2 was part of MTV Networks' strategy to expand its brand in anticipation of the coming shift to digital cable, which would exponentially increase the number of available channels on the cable spectrum. Based on MTV Network's internal research, viewers' pent-up demand for additional music video viewing options—a demand that M2 was designed to meet—fed expectations within the company that the new channel's success would be inevitable and immediate.