Girl Gaga helped convey monster rankings to the 2025 VMAs on Sunday.
At the moment, CBS and Paramount introduced that the 2025 Video Music Awards, hosted by LL Cool J, achieved a six-year viewership excessive, reaching greater than 5.5 million viewers throughout CBS, a simulcast on MTV, and streaming on Paramount+.
This was the primary yr that Paramount broadcast the present on CBS, and Nielsen’s quick nationwide rankings present a 42% enhance in viewers yr over yr (regardless of the occasion going up in opposition to a Sunday Night time Soccer matchup of the Buffalo Payments and Baltimore Ravens). Final yr’s VMAs had round 4 million viewers.
As well as, the present was probably the most seen and engaged VMAs ever, with 1 billion world video views, up 21%, and greater than 81 million engagements, up 6%, throughout owned social media accounts, in accordance with information from Sprinklr.
All through the night time, Paramount delivered performances to maintain viewers hooked, together with exhibits from Sabrina Carpenter, Ricky Martin, and Mariah Carey. The present additionally had highs by way of model integrations, showcasing greater than 11 minutes and 15 seconds of in-show branded content material, surpassing the 8 minutes of branded content material the present had in 2024.
On the night time, Paramount lined up 30 advertisers (19 of that are new), eight customized advertising companions, and 145 distinctive items of branded content material throughout its platforms.
Talking with ADWEEK forward of the present in regards to the advertiser demand, John Halley, Paramount’s advert gross sales chief, mentioned the model enthusiasm stems from the facility of reside occasions, which was felt on this yr’s upfront.
“The truth is that for those who had a sports activities portfolio, for those who had a giant tentpole portfolio, [advertisers] had been diving in on that,” Halley mentioned. “And truly, stage one of many upfront moved earlier and far quicker than we thought due to these coveted properties.”
Showcasing the demand for reside occasions, YouTube additionally not too long ago reported that its first unique broadcast of an NFL recreation, a matchup between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers reside from São Paulo, Brazil, reached greater than 17 million viewers.
