Friday, May 23, 2025

MTV VMA Ratings Fall Substantially Again to New Lows: By 300,000 on MTV, Even More on Affiliated Channels

It looks like the MTV Video Music Awards on Monday night fell again to new lows, dropping substantially from last year and off a cliff from 2015.

On the main MTV channel, the show drew 1.9 million viewers, down from last year’s 2.250 million. On VH-1, the show dropped from 2018’s 1.095 million to just 887,000. The numbers for nine other MTV-related channels will be in on Wednesday, but MTV and VH-1 are the main avenues for audience.

In the key demo, the number was 0.9, falling from 1.1. That’s 200,000 “young” people. Is the population just aging? Or are teens not so interested in their generation of rock stars. Of course, there was no almost nothing you could call “rock.” The closest they came to having a “veteran” on was Missy Elliott.

The show was fine, if uneventful, that’s for sure. Everyone did what they came to do. A lot of it looked artificial, but that’s nothing new. Even Taylor Swift ran uncontested, you might say, with no outbursts or interruptions from Kanye West or any other opposing party.

Of course, these are Video Music Awards. I’m not sure when MTV plays videos, or if anyone watches them. The channel is best known now for terrible, low rent reality programming. So do music videos have fans? Or anyone who cares about them? You tell me (showbiz411@gmail.com).

I did like Miley Cyrus’s performance a lot. And it does look like she, Swift, Lizzo, and maybe the Jonas Brothers got something of a sales bounce out of the show.

Donate to Showbiz411.com

Showbiz411 is now in its 13th year of providing breaking and exclusive entertainment news. This is an independent site, unlike the many Hollywood trades that are owned by one company. To continue providing news that takes a fresh look at what's going on in movies, music, theater, etc, advertising is our basis. Reader donations would be greatly appreciated, too. They are just another facet of keeping fact based journalism alive.
Thank you


Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

Read more

In Other News