The trend of award shows declining in ratings continues as the MTV Video Music Awards drew its smallest audience ever. Monday’s show drew 2.25 million viewers and a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49.
What makes it worse for this year’s VMAs is that while the 2017 awards also aired opposite the Game of Thrones finale on HBO; the only competition on cable Monday was WWE Monday Night Raw on USA (1.1 in 18-49, 3.1 million viewers) and an NFL preseason game on ESPN (0.8, 2.66 million).
The VMAs also suffered even steeper declines among MTV’s core viewership of teens and young adults. In the 18-34 demo, the show’s 1.2 rating fell by almost half from 2.2 a year ago.
I guess MTV will soon be adding an “achievement in popular film music” to increase ratings in 2019.