Music

There was a 34% ratings drop for the MTV VMAs this year

by Richard Howard

I haven’t watched the VMAs in years. I haven’t been too busy, and I don’t have any philosophical beef with them – I just think that they’ve generally become kind of terrible. So when I saw that MTV’s Video Music Awards saw a drop in viewership this year, from 9.8 million to 6.5 million, I mentally did a little dance (imaginary me dabs way better than real-life me) and dreamt of a return to edgier/less overly-scripted content.

But MTV couldn’t even let me have that, the bastards. They announced that the TV ratings drop was offset by a massive surge in online streams – 62.8M video streams, up 70% from day-of-show’s 36.8M in 2015. They also announced a ludicrous increase in Facebook streaming (45.8 million vs 2015’s 4.4M for an increase of 938% ). That part’s a little confusing – officially, MTV only offered a post-show live stream on its Facebook page. Presumably, then, they’re talking about the recorded streams made available after the show. Also, if they’re including that in the stream total, the number of Facebook streams is greater than the total number of streams in 2015. I can’t speak with any authority since I didn’t check out MTV’s Facebook post-VMAs last year, but something tells me they’ve accepted the rating plunge (which is now in its fourth year) and simply made a shit-ton more streams available.

In any case, as NY Times points out, while those numbers and the VMA’s continued status as one of its night’s social media leaders is wonderful for exposure, networks still get the overwhelming majority of their revenue from commercial time on the traditional broadcast. And the shift to social media may force a return to awards shows worth watching yet. MTV must have noticed the buzz surrounding Beyonce’s powerful performance (check it out below) and Alicia Keys’ speech/impromptu performance on equality, which starkly contrasted panning of bullshit fluff like Nick Jonas’ weird diner performance and complaints about a show that was somehow both over-scripted and directionless in its production. Maybe the showrunners will take a chance, do some risk-taking and allow more real experiences next year. But probably not.