• by Wayne Friedman , September 12, 2007

A wobbly Britney Spears on your TV show is better than no Britney Spears. Ask MTV.

Evidence comes from the network's surprisingly high-rated "Video Music Awards," which soared in viewership 23% over last year's numbers, giving the show 7.08 million viewers. It was the highest-rated cable show among 12-34 viewers--5.0 million--this year.

Moreover, MTV.com set records. On Monday, the day after the event, MTV posted its best daily traffic ever--2.6 million unique visitors--40% higher than a year ago. Yesterday's numbers were also 32% higher than last year's MTV.com unique visitor numbers.

MTV also noted there were 6 million streams on Monday for its "2007 MTV Video Music Awards On-Demand" area.

Despite Spears' long absence from MTV and TV in general, her presence fueled interest, according to media executives. Spears, however, was roundly criticized for what seemed an unsteady dance-and-song performance in which her lip-synching was out of synch and her dance moves were tentative.

Still, it stemmed almost four years of ratings decline for the show. Last year's show's ratings were 26% lower than in 2005.

MTV depends heavily on the VMA, as well as its MTV Movie Awards program later in the year, for the bulk of its ad activities. MTV packages many programs and digital opportunities around these two Awards shows, say media analysts. It amounts to a mini-upfront for marketing companies.

The VMA high ratings are a good sign for the slipping flagship MTV brand. MTV's second-quarter total day ratings this year sank to a 0.6, and an average of 688,000 viewers--versus a 0.8 rating and average 826,000 viewers, for the second quarter of 2006.