MTV VMA's 2018 Reach Record-Low Ratings

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Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez attend Jennifer Lopez's MTV VMA's Vanguard Award Celebration at Beauty & Essex on August 21, 2018 in New York City.
VMA's 2018 set an all-time low in viewership for the second year in a row.

While it seemed like everyone was talking about the VMA's last night across social media, not as many people were actually tuning into the award show itself. According to Hollywood Reporter, the 2018 MTV VMA's reached record-breaking low ratings.

The 2018 VMA's beat out last year's award ceremony for the smallest audience ever in VMA history. Monday night's award show brought in 4.87 million viewers and a 2.2 rating among the 18-49 aged demographic across eight Viacom owned channels. 2.25 of those viewers were from people tuning into MTV.

The 2017 VMA's previously had the lowest viewership in history by drawing in 5.36 million viewers and a 2.6 rating. In the demographic between 18-34, the rating went down from 2.2 to 1.2. It also declined among the 12-34 demographic with the same percent.

Last night's VMA's featured performances from Nicki Minaj, Post Malone and Travis Scott, among others. It also featured Cardi B's first major public appearance after giving birth to her first child, Kulture. Cardi opened up the show with a monologue and fooled many people, including Offset, into thinking that she would finally reveal her child's face.

Jennifer Lopez also received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. The award was presented to her by Shawn Mendes after she performed a medley of some of the most popular songs in her career and even brought Ja Rule out at one point to perform their song, "I'm Real."


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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