Girl Gaga helped carry monster rankings to the 2025 VMAs on Sunday.
At this time, 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% increase in viewers yr over yr (regardless of the occasion going up in opposition to a Sunday Evening Soccer matchup of the Buffalo Payments and Baltimore Ravens). Final yr’s VMAs had round 4 million viewers.
As well as, the present was essentially the most considered and engaged VMAs ever, with 1 billion international video views, up 21%, and greater than 81 million engagements, up 6%, throughout owned social media accounts, in response to information from Sprinklr.
All through the evening, Paramount delivered performances to maintain viewers hooked, together with reveals 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 evening, Paramount lined up 30 advertisers (19 of that are new), eight customized advertising and marketing companions, and 145 distinctive items of branded content material throughout its platforms.
Talking with ADWEEK forward of the present concerning the advertiser demand, John Halley, Paramount’s advert gross sales chief, mentioned the model enthusiasm stems from the ability of stay occasions, which was felt on this yr’s upfront.
“The fact is that when you had a sports activities portfolio, when you 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 stay occasions, YouTube additionally not too long ago reported that its first unique broadcast of an NFL sport, a matchup between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers stay from São Paulo, Brazil, reached greater than 17 million viewers.
