The VMAs Just Scored Its Biggest Ratings in Over a Decade

Somebody get Madonna her own CBS crime procedural: Madge’s star-packed opening number at Sunday’s Video Music Awards was seen by more than 15 million viewers, helping boost the full two-hour telecast to its best ratings in over a decade, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers. Boosted by its lead-in from a (literal) last-second thriller of an NFL matchup, the 2026 VMAs delivered a very healthy 7.61 million same-day viewers for CBS (up 52 percent versus the 5 million for last year’s September 7 broadcast) and tallied an additional 686,000 viewers on actual MTV (a jump of 40 percent from 2025’s audience of 491,000). Throw in the 142,000 stragglers who watched an encore on MTV later Sunday night, and the preliminary total same-day audience for the VMAs this year currently stands at 8.43 million viewers — the biggest tune-in for the show since 2015 (12.73 million, when the show aired only on MTV).

Obviously the massive influx of viewers from the NFL game helped, as did airing the show on CBS rather than MTV, the network now known for endless reruns of sitcoms and Ridiculousness. A promised appearance by Taylor Swift didn’t hurt, either. And it’s also worth noting that these numbers will shift again, when Nielsen adjusts things with its so-called “Big Data” panel drawn from smart TVs and devices. But a win’s a win: By shifting the VMAs to broadcast, CBS chief George Cheeks has not only managed to save a barely breathing show from extinction, he’s also given the Eye network a new tentpole to (somewhat) make up for the loss of the Grammys to ABC, as well as a nice place to promote his new fall shows. Talk about causing a commotion.