• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 1, 2016

MTV’s “Video Music Awards” now seems to be undergoing a big transition. The show is no longer a single MTV network show. It now runs on virtually all Viacom networks -- some 11 networks this year. (Last year it was on 10 networks; the year before that, four channels.).

We get it -- young viewers can be hard to find, and it’s harder to keep their attention.

Is this strategy working? Extending to virtually all Viacom networks now offers a total viewership of 6.5 million -- down from the 9.8 million who watched the 2015 show.

Just looking at MTV alone? This year comes to 3.3 million viewers -- sharply down from 12.4 million in 2011.

MTV, the once-proud music channel, is now many things, unscripted programming in particular. But, the VMAs are, for many, one MTV show that can pull in a cross-section of Viacom and other TV viewers.

We all know MTV viewers in particular, millennials and younger viewers, are heavy multitaskers, going to digital platforms before, during, and after shows like the VMAs. That can hurt traditional TV viewership.

For the VMAs, on a time-shifted basis, millennials may be digitally streaming lots of bits and pieces. According to reports, more than 50% of VMA digital streams -- 86 million out of 146 million -- came after the show had ended.

Still, we know it is hard to monetize digital media advertising on the same level as traditional TV -- even though engagement and targeting can be much better. What we do know is, recent traditional TV advertising estimates for the VMAs is about $50 million in national advertising.  

The competition? It probably comes from The Grammys, which runs earlier in the year on CBS. According to industry estimates, that show regularly pulls in some $70 million in national TV advertising.

Viacom needs to figure out how to ramp up this franchise as the big annual musical TV home -- a kind of Super Bowl event for music.

It’s not over yet. Many would predict continued growth for the VMAs — beyond social media buzz, streams and engagement issues -- giving TV marketers better options for these key viewers in the future.