MTV’s Video Awards Gets Best Rating in 8 Years: 11.4 Million Watched

Posted Sep 14, 2010 by Walt Belcher

Updated Sep 14, 2010 at 10:52 AM

Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Taylor Swift helped Sunday’s MTV’s Video Music Awards show achive its best viewership performance in eight years.

The annual event averaged 11.4 million viewers, marking the best performance of any VMA show since the 2002 telecast drew 11.9 million viewers, according to network officials. The show—in which pop star Lady Gaga won three “moon man” statuettes during a ceremony that also featured musical performances by Justin Beiber, Kanye West, Eminem, Rihanna and Taylor Swift—is now the third most-watched telecast in MTV history.

Last year’s VMA telecast drew 8.9 million viewers.
The show, hosted by talk show personality Chelsea Handler, also drew 7.9 million viewers among the network’s target 12-to-34 year old demographic - tying the 2002 VMAs as the most watched show in the demo and generating a 33% increase above the 2009 VMAs, said the network.