The 2025 VMAs scored a six-year viewership high as it simulcast on CBS for the first time.
The show, which broadcast live on Sunday beginning at 8 p.m. ET from from New York’s UBS Arena, scored 5.5 million viewers across CBS, MTV and Paramount+, according to Nielsen fast nationals. The award show was the top entertainment program of the night, and second in the time period as it aired against the Sunday Night Football Ravens vs. Bills matchup.
That’s up 42% from last year’s audience of 3.91 million viewers, which the show scored across MTV, BET, BET Her, CMT, CC, Logo, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land and VH1.
The 2025 VMAs marka the biggest day-of audience for the event since 2019 and the third-largest live streamed entertainment event on Paramount+, behind the Grammys and the Golden Globes.
The VMAs voting campaign also got its best turnout in history, with 2.5 billion global votes, a 121% increase from last year.
On social media, the show set new records as the most viewers and most engaged VMA ceremony in history. It caught 1 billion global video views, up 21%, and 81.1 million engagements, up 6 % from 2023, according to Sprinklr data. The #VMAs hashtag trended at No. 1 in the U.S. for three hours and was in the top 10 for nine hours. It held the no. 1 worldwide trending spot for four consecutive hours, reaching the top spot in 12 countries.
The 2025 VMAs were hosted by LL Cool J and featured performances from Lady Gaga, Tate McRae, Sabrina Carpenter, Ricky Martin and more.
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