Hello, MTV – and welcome to our VMA Analysis

Awards shows are often thought of as ‘rental audiences’ or audiences that are unlikely to regularly tune into award show networks. However, in 2020, 86% of the MTV VMA audience had tuned into MTV or MTV2 in the previous 30 days. When broadened to include all Viacom networks, that proportion grew to 98%.

In fact, the VMA audience is much more likely to tune into Viacom networks than other TV audiences — The VMA audience is 160% more likely to watch MTV2, 100% more likely to watch LOGO, 90% more likely to watch BET Her, CMT, and MTV.

As with other event television on linear networks, the VMAs also drive future tune-in. 47% of new viewers (who had not watched MTV or MTV2 in 30 days prior to the VMAs) tuned in to one of the 2 networks in the 30 days following the awards show. The awards show also drove 13.5% new audiences to the event i.e. audiences who hadn’t watched the network on which the show aired in the previous 30 days, tuned into the network for the awards show.

Audience Insights from the 2020 VMAs:

Where else can MTV VMA audiences be found across the TV universe? We dug into the data and found that Games & Reality Shows, Movies and Comedy are the most watched TV genres by MTV VMA viewers. The graph below shows the total overlap percentage of the VMA audience with show genres.

The 2020 VMA audience especially over-indexed for Ridiculousness (MTV – Music Television), NBA Basketball (TNT) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (USA Network), making these shows the most watched cable shows for the VMAs audience segment. MTV – Music Television, TNT, TBS, Paramount Network were the most watched cable networks by the MTV VMA audiences.

While award show audience numbers have fallen steeply, these shows add value to the networks they air on as they bring in new audiences who stay on the network much beyond the duration of the show.

Partner with us to learn more about award show audiences, where else they can be found across the TV and digital landscape, and more. To learn about viewing trends for award shows including the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Grammys check out our report here.

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