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MTV's VMAs soar
even as Britney flops


Annual video awards special is up 23 percent

Sep 12, 2007

As a comeback bid, Britney Spears’ performance on Sunday night’s “MTV Video Music Awards” was a disaster of the worst kind, drawing criticism for everything from her lousy lip-synching to clunky dance moves to that surprising belly paunch.

But as a ratings-grabber, MTV couldn’t have asked for anything more. Spears’ much-hyped appearance, her first TV singing performance in years, ended a four-year ratings skid for the long-fading VMAs.

The VMAs averaged 7.1 million total viewers, up 23 percent compared with last year’s near-record-low 5.8 million. It was the first time since 2002 that the show has seen a year-to-year gain.

Among MTV’s target audience of people 12-34, the show was up 23 percent over last year’s awards program, averaging a 6.4 rating. It was the highest-rated ad-supported cable telecast this year in that demographic.

Spears’ dreadful performance was all the buzz online following the show, with bloggers, messageboards and even a surprising chunk of the mainstream media dissecting the cultural significance of her latest public train wreck. That led to increased traffic to MTV.com, which hit a record 2.66 million unique visitors Sunday.

The site has served more than 6 million streams of Sunday’s awards show through its on-demand feature.

Spears had been hoping to launch a comeback with the MTV appearance after spending the past three years bearing two children, marrying and divorcing one of her backup dancers, bouncing in and out of rehab, shaving her head and partying panty-less with Paris Hilton. Shortly before the VMAs, Spears released her first single in several years, and her album is supposed to be out soon.

But if Spears proved that her song-and-dance days may be done, MTV did make a comeback of sorts. The network hasn’t generated this much buzz since Spears’ last VMAs performance four years ago, when she smooched Madonna and set off a days-long media firestorm.

Since then, MTV’s awards shows have seemed increasingly out of touch as ratings dipped, perhaps partly because the network is no longer known for airing the videos that the music awards honors.

Meanwhile, in other ad-supported cable ratings for the week ended Sept. 9:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): MTV, ESPN, USA, TNT, Spike

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, TNT, ESPN, MTV, Spike

Top movie (18-49s): CMT’s “Dale Earnhardt” (Tuesday, 8 p.m.) 1.7 million

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Florida State/Clemson” (Monday, 8 p.m.) 6.7 million

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN’s “Florida State/Clemson” (Monday, 8 p.m.); MTV’s “MTV Video Music Awards” (Sunday, 9 p.m.); Spike’s “UFC 75: Champ vs. Champ” (Saturday, 9 p.m.); USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 10 p.m.)

Show on the rise: Spike’s “The Hills,” “UFC 75: Champ vs. Champ” Saturday 9 p.m. The most-watched Ultimate Fighting Championship event ever drew 4.7 million total viewers and outdrew every other sporting event that day among men 18-34 and 18-49.

Show on the decline: HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Sunday 10 p.m. The show’s fifth-season premiere was its worst ever, averaging 1.2 million total viewers.

 

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
 Week Ending Sept. 9

Rank

Primetime

Total Day

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

TNT

2076

NICK

1605

2

USA

2011

TNT

1067

3

ESPN

1883

NAN *

961

4

MTV

1356

USA

905

5

LIF

1284

ESPN

902

6

HGTV

1247

TOON

852

7

SPK

1216

LIF

851

8

FOXN

1215

ADSM*

803

9

TBSC

1133

TBSC

728

10

TOON

1133

FOXN

691

11

AEN

1096

MTV

669

12

NAN

996

HALL

655

13

HALL

983

SPK

643

14

CORT

972

AEN

632

15

FX  

928

HGTV

613

16

DISC

883

CORT

542

17

AMC

846

DISC

538

18

SCIF

817

HIST

500

19

ESP2

816

FX  

492

20

TLC

773

AMC

475

21

FAM

769

CMDY

474

22

HIST

760

TVLD

467

23

CMDY

735

FOOD

454

24

TVLD

642

FAM

436

25

FOOD

627

CNN

429

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

 

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
 Week Ending Sept. 9

Rank

Program

Net

(000)

1

The Closer

TNT

5839

2

Florida State/Clemson

ESPN

4842

3

2007 Video Music Awards

MTV

4479

4

WWE Entertainment

USA

3745

5

Saving Grace

TNT

3672

6

College Football Saturday

ESPN

3317

7

Monk

USA

3280

8

WWE Entertainment

USA

3212

9

Spongebob

NICK

3111

10

iCarly

NICK

2996

11

UFC 75: Champ vs. Champ

SPK

2951

12

Spongebob

NICK

2905

13

iCarly

NICK

2886

14

College Football Saturday

ESPN

2850

15

Psych

USA

2843

16

The Hills

MTV

2812

17

iCarly

NICK

2788

18

Spongebob

NICK

2738

19

Spongebob

NICK

2681

20

Law & Order

TNT

2676

21

Fairly Odd Parents

NICK

2674

22

iCarly

NICK

2636

23

Spongebob

NICK

2595

24

iCarly

NICK

2552

25

Zoey 101

NICK

2528

Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

 

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
 Week Ending Sept. 9

Rank

PRIME TIME

TOTAL DAY

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

MTV

984

MTV

396

2

ESPN

628

ADSM*

391

3

SPK

549

ESPN

359

4

USA

471

NAN *

312