With controversy and buzz spreading into the week, Sunday (August 25) night’s telecast of the 2013 Video Music Awards was a huge hit for MTV, drawing big numbers for both viewership and social media.
In its initial airing, the VMAs drew 10.1 million viewers, a whopping 66 percent increase over the 2012 telecast. The VMAs show was also up 47 percent in MTV’s core demo of viewers 12-34, making it cable’s top entertainment telecast of the year with that audience. When you add in 2.8 million viewers catching the immediate encore presentation, the VMAs drew 12.9 million viewers on Sunday.
That puts the VMAs well above any network programming from Sunday night.
MTV is also boasting that the VMAs preshow drew 4.6 million viewers, up by an absurd 119 percent over last year.
In addition, MTV’s feeling pretty stoked about the social media performance for the VMAs, claiming the performances and winners generated “120 national and worldwide trending topics on Twitter,” whatever that means. The endlessly discussed and rehashed performance by Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke set a new Twitter record with 306,000 tweets per minute, topping Beyonce’s performance at the Super Bowl.