MTV VMAs Ratings, Web Traffic Up
Video Music Awards Move to Las Vegas, Only Air Once
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/10/2007 6:48:00 PM EDT
MTV's decision to move the Video Music Awards to Las Vegas and run the telecast for only one night seems to have paid off in the ratings, according to early numbers.
The VMAs telecast, from 9 p.m.-11 p.m. Sunday, averaged 7.08 million total viewers and 5 million viewers 12-34, up about 23% from last year. That was the most viewers in the demo for any ad-supported (thus excluding Disney Channel) cable telecast this year.
Unlike in previous years, MTV this year chose not to give viewers the option to watch countless repeats of the show, boosting viewing for Sunday night's telecast by showing various remixes of the show this week instead. The show was also only two hours this year and drew many for its opening act, a lackluster "comeback" performance by Britney Spears.
MTV also put a big push behind its online embellishments to the telecast this year and earned traffic increases over last. MTV.com posted 2.6 million unique visitors Sunday, up 40% from last year, according to the network.
That made it MTV.com's most trafficked day ever, up 32% from the previous record -- last year's day after the VMAs. By 3:30 p.m. Monday, the site had logged 7 million total video streams, MTV said.
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