TV Ratings: VMAs Hit Four-Year Viewer High
The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards scored its biggest audience in four years.
Wednesday’s show, which included a record fifth video of the year win for Taylor Swift, averaged 4.09 million viewers across MTV, 11 other Paramount-owned cable channels and UniMas. That’s an 8 percent gain over the 2023 VMAs (3.78 million viewers) and the best total for the VMAs since 2020; figures for both years include the main show, preshow and encore airings.
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The primary telecast improved by a larger margin, averaging 3.11 million viewers across the 13 channels — up 25 percent from 2.49 million a year ago.
MTV also says the 2024 VMAs recorded 66.7 million social interactions worldwide, per Talkwalker’s Social Content Ratings. That’s an all-time record for an entertainment telecast and second among all TV programs of all time, behind only Tuesday’s presidential debate. MTV-owned social accounts also recorded 829 million video views for the VMAs (what constitutes a “view” varies by platform, from a second or two on TikTok and Instagram to 30 seconds on YouTube). That’s an 18 percent gain over the 2023 show.
After hitting a low of 2.56 million viewers in 2021, the on-air audience for the VMAs simulcast has grown for three consecutive years. Maybe not entirely coincidentally, Swift has been a big presence on all three shows, winning video of the year each time.
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