VMAs 2022: Ratings rise slightly amid metaverse push, Taylor Swift's album bombshell
The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) delivered quite a few headlines on Sunday night, including a surprise album announcement from Taylor Swift.
The simulcast broadcast attracted 3.9 million total viewers across 13 networks, up 3% from 2021’s 3.7 million.
The simulcast's key demo, adults aged of 18 and 49, increased by 1% compared to last year while its audience rating also edged higher (2.81 versus the prior year's 2.78).
The surprise upside comes as major award broadcasts have been on a serious decline in recent years as interest from the broader public wanes.
Additionally, cable has struggled to keep up with streaming as media giants battle a more fickle consumer.
According to Nielsen, streaming officially surpassed both cable and broadcast in terms of total viewing for the month of July. In the U.S., streaming captured 34.8% of viewership in July, while cable accounted for 34.4%. Broadcast came in third at 21.6%.
VMAs embrace the metaverse
As award shows attempt to stay relevant and capture younger audiences, one new category at this year's VMAs included "Best Metaverse Performance" — a sign of the times as the virtual bleeds into reality.
Top brands like Wendy's (WEN) and Chipotle (CMG) have dabbled in virtual world experiences, while artists including K-Pop band BTS and rapper Travis Scott hosted virtual concerts on sites like Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox (RBLX).
South Korean girl group Blackpink won the first-time award. The quartet beat out A-list names like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, who hosted virtual concerts on Wave and Fortnite, respectively.
"We saw the opportunity to highlight and honor some of the best, most impactful executions of this — and celebrate artists who have found creative ways to use these spaces — which led to the addition of ‘Best Metaverse Performance’ category this year," a spokesperson for MTV told ITK.
In addition to the new category, the VMAs also announced its first-ever VMA metaverse experience on Roblox, where visitors had the chance to play games and vote for their favorite metaverse performance.
The VMAs represents the first major award show to include a metaverse performance award; however, other shows have embraced the Web3 boom with the 2022 Grammys offering a collection of music-inspired non fungible tokens (NFTs).
Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Food Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com
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