Woman Gaga helped carry monster scores to the 2025 VMAs on Sunday.
Immediately, 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 12 months that Paramount broadcast the present on CBS, and Nielsen’s quick nationwide scores present a 42% increase in viewers 12 months over 12 months (regardless of the occasion going up towards a Sunday Evening Soccer matchup of the Buffalo Payments and Baltimore Ravens). Final 12 months’s VMAs had round 4 million viewers.
As well as, the present was essentially 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 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 when it comes to 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 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 facility of reside occasions, which was felt on this 12 months’s upfront.
“The truth is that in case you had a sports activities portfolio, in case you had a giant tentpole portfolio, [advertisers] had been diving in on that,” Halley mentioned. “And really, 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 just lately 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.
