Moon Man still has some life left. CBS and MTV’s broadcast of the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards averaged 8.43 million viewers Sunday night, according to Nielsen Live+same-day flash national scheduling. Those numbers could change come the finals, but for now, that makes it the most-watched VMAs in 11 years (since 2015, when it aired exclusively on MTV), and is up 51% from last year’s show.
The VMAs were likely helped by an NFL football overflow (which was late until the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Dallas Cowboys), pushing the VMAs start time by a few minutes (to 7:51 p.m. ET). The show still started at 4:30pm at LA Live’s Peacock Theatre, but ended on CBS due to tape delay.
This 8.43 million figure includes simulcast on CBS and MTV, as well as replay on MTV. But in an apples-to-apples comparison, last year’s show (on September 7, 2025) also aired on CBS, MTV, and MTV, which brought in 5.60 million viewers.
In individual network numbers, CBS telecast averaged 7.61 million viewers, up 52% from last year (5.00 million). MTV’s simulcast averaged 686,000 viewers (up 40% from last year’s 481,000). And the MTV rerun brought in 142,000 viewers (up 31% from 108,000 last year).
This year represented the best same-day audience for the VMAs since 2015, when the awards show reached 12.73 million viewers, according to CBS.
Across demos, this was the most-watched VMAs among adults 25-54 (3.11 million) since 2019 (3.55 million) and was up +34% from last year (2.32 million). Among adults aged 18-49, the program received 2.66 million people; The best figure since 2018 (3.02 million) and a 32% increase from 2025 (2.02 million). Among adults aged 18-34, the show averaged 1/09 million; This is the best figure since 2020 (1.14 million) and is up 46% from last year (751,000).
CBS also reported social media highlights: 31.1 million engagements and 159 million video views (up 8% from last year).
The 2026 VMAs opened with Madonna featuring Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX in her first VMA performance in 23 years. The program also featured Taylor Swift winning video of the year, receiving the MTV VMA artist director award, and premiering her new music video called “Patient Zero.”
Nirvana also received the video pioneer award, and there were tributes to Dolly Parton and George Michael. Other artists included GENER8ION, Gunna, Kacey Musgraves, Lisa, Madonna, Raye, Shaboozey, Sienna Spiro, Sombr, Teddy Swims and Yung Lean.
Snoop Dogg hosted the 2026 VMAs. Barut & Sky undertook its special production. Van Toffler served as producer. Den of Thieves’ Jesse Ignjatovic, Barb Bialkowski and Bruce Gillmer were executive producers, along with Barry Barclay and Floris Bauer. Melanie Block was co-producer and Gary Lanvy was co-producer. Snoop Dogg was an executive producer along with producers Sara Ramaker and Jasmin Ratansi. Jen Proctor was the executive talent producer.