{"id":9009,"date":"2026-07-18T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/18\/how-the-mtv-video-music-awards-could-be-relevant\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:00:00","slug":"how-the-mtv-video-music-awards-could-be-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/18\/how-the-mtv-video-music-awards-could-be-relevant\/","title":{"rendered":"How the MTV Video Music Awards could be relevant"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The MTV Video Music Awards nominations are about a month away, and once they arrive, expect discourse over the role of the music video in the age of social media and the relevance of the awards themselves, now in their fourth decade. It’s a frequent refrain: the VMAs have been marked by a general decline in viewership and public interest for years, coinciding with the format’s loss of cultural cachet. Yes, in the right year with the right nominees, people still seem to care about the show. Last year, for example, the show posted a 42<\/a>% increase in viewership, likely due to its move to CBS for the first time ever and a slate led by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. However, gone are the days where VMAs could pull more than 10 million viewers; last year’s audience of 5 million was the highest in half a decade. But despite the negatives, there’s still can be a future for MTV’s middle-aged show. <\/p>\n

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To understand what isn’t working with the VMAs now, it’s necessary to examine why they did<\/em> work years ago. While the Grammys have always been the biggest music award show, rewarding everything from classical to jazz to country to pop, the VMAs were ideal counterprogramming. Coming of age with MTV in the 1980s, music videos drove pop culture and were the primary means of delivering new music to the masses. The awards ceremony was far looser and far more scandalous than the Grammys, and usually good for delivering viral moments. While you might get an Elton John-Eminem duet every so often at the Grammys, the VMAs reliably delivered Britney Spears’ snake performance, Lady Gaga’s meat dress, and Kanye West infamously crashing Taylor Swift’s crowning moment. Those iconic images captured public attention, especially among a younger, more plugged-in demo, in a way that multiple acceptance speeches from, say, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (no shade to either) could never.<\/p>\n

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