Ariana Grande accepting her video of the year award at the 2025 MTV VMAs. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text The audience for the MTV Video Music Awards, unsurprisingly, spiked with a move to CBS. The broadcast network, airing the awards for the first time, fueled a 42 percent increase in viewers for the VMAs. Sunday's show, which also aired on MTV and streamed on Paramount+, delivered 5.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen's earliest-available numbers (that include out-of-home viewing). That's the most for the show in six years. The 2024 telecast, including the pre-show and encore airings, averaged 4.09 million viewers on MTV and 11 other Paramount cable outlets. (The directly comparable number here is 3.91 million viewers, according to Paramount; final adjustments for the '25 telecast to follow.) CBS has a much wider reach than MTV does, as it's available (at least in theory) to anyone with a TV - some 125 million homes in the United States - and means to capture the broadcast signal. MTV, by contrast, is available in only about half as many households. Related Stories Movies Yoo Ji-tae, Tony Revolori and Gia Kim Join Paramount and Hybe America's K-Pop Movie (Exclusive) TV TV Ratings: YouTube's First Exclusive NFL Game Draws 16 Million U.S. Viewers The 2025 Video Music Awards were the most-watched entertainment special on CBS since Feb. 2's Grammy Awards. Last night's VMAs had some serious competition from an all-time great Sunday Night Football game on NBC. The close out the NFL's opening weekend of 2025, the Buffalo Bills came from behind to defeat the Baltimore Ravens as time expired. Buffalo erased a 15-point deficit in the final 4:05, winning 41-40 at home. Lady Gaga won the award for artist of the year along with three other awards Sunday. Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter each took home three honors; Grande's "Brighter Days Ahead" won video of the year, and Carpenter's Short n' Sweet took album of the year. The 2025 VMAs were hosted by LL Cool J, who has quite a history with CBS and its sister cable channels, which were formerly (twice) under the Viacom umbrella. LL was a cast member on CBS series NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawaiʻi, and he hosted Lip Sync Battle on Paramount Network. As a rapper, he was a staple on MTV and was named among VH1's "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time" list. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up Task Brad Ingelsby Is Back to What He Does Best With 'Task,' Just Don't Expect a Whodunit USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center How 'The Pitt' Gets Death Right Live Feed 'Leanne' Renewed for Second Season at Netflix Live Feed Alicia Silverstone's 'Irish Blood,' Acorn TV's Top Show Ever, Renewed for Season 2 Live Feed Tom Hopper Unpacks the Psychological Perils in 'The Terminal List: Dark Wolf' Live Feed 'Wednesday' Stars Emma Myers and Evie Templeton on Doing "The Dead Dance" and Fighting All Season Long Task Brad Ingelsby Is Back to What He Does Best With 'Task,' Just Don't Expect a Whodunit USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center How 'The Pitt' Gets Death Right Live Feed 'Leanne' Renewed for Second Season at Netflix Live Feed Alicia Silverstone's 'Irish Blood,' Acorn TV's Top Show Ever, Renewed for Season 2 Live Feed Tom Hopper Unpacks the Psychological Perils in 'The Terminal List: Dark Wolf' Live Feed 'Wednesday' Stars Emma Myers and Evie Templeton on Doing "The Dead Dance" and Fighting All Season Long