The MTV Video Music Awards recorded their largest audience in more than a decade on Sunday night.
The awards averaged 8.43 million viewers on CBS and MTV (including an encore on the latter), up 51 percent from last year’s 5.6 million — which was also a multi-year high. Sunday’s audience (subject to adjustments when Nielsen adds its big data component) was the largest for the VMAs since the 2015 show attracted more than 12 million people across multiple channels.
The VMAs also recorded their best performances among adults aged 18 to 49 (2.66 million in this age group) since 2018; among adults aged 25 to 54 (3.11 million) since 2019; and among adults aged 18 to 34 (1.09 million) since 2020.
Madonna — who also opened the show with a performance featuring Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter — was the night’s big winner with seven awards. Taylor Swift won Video of the Year for “The Destiny of Ophelia” and also received the top Art Director Award for music artists who also direct videos.
The awards show, hosted by Snoop Dogg, also featured tributes to Dolly Parton and George Michael. Nirvana received the Video Vanguard honor.
The VMAs also benefited from what was likely a very large lead in the NFL. The awards peaked at 15 million viewers for Madonna’s opening number, which directly followed a game-winning field goal for the Baltimore Ravens against the Dallas Cowboys (who are still among the NFL’s biggest television draws). The 2025 VMAs also had a strong lead in the NFL (23.9 million viewers), but the Ravens-Cowboys audience has a good chance of surpassing this mark.
CBS accounted for 7.61 million viewers, or 90 percent of the total audience. The MTV simulcast attracted 686,000 viewers and the rebroadcast attracted 142,000 more.
On social media, the awards generated 159 million video views across all platforms, an increase of 8% year-on-year.
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