--- description: But the event generated an incredible 21.4 million tweets title: VMAs 2015: Ratings Drop 5% From Last Year, With Miley Cyrus image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbd14c055f7b6019/698861c78e06018564462249/miley-cyrus-vma-20151.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Miley Cyrus' Censor-Baiting Antics Can't Save VMA's Ratings ## Video: InStyle 2015 VMA Red Carpet [Watch (HLS stream): InStyle 2015 VMA Red Carpet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hdA2D44i.m3u8) (1:11)  _Published 2015-08-31. InStyle 2015 VMA Red Carpet_ by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 31, 2015 9:03 PM CUT  LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 30: Miley Cyrus arrives to the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on August 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by C Flanigan/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 30: Miley Cyrus arrives to the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on August 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by C Flanigan/Getty Images)C Flanigan—Getty Images by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 31, 2015 9:03 PM CUT Miley Cyrus can’t stop the VMAs ratings drops. The pop singer got MTV some headlines (and some subsequent [outrage for her breast-baring](http://ew.com/article/2015/08/31/vmas-2015-miley-cyrus-wardrobe-malfunction-ptc "undefined") stunt) as the 2015 VMAs host, but what the about the numbers? According to MTV, Sunday night’s telecast of the Video Music Awards delivered 9.8 million viewers across 10 Viacom-owned networks. Despite that, viewership fell 5 percent from last year. And that’s after the ratings falling last year too—in 2014, the show slipped 18 percent from 2013. MTV points out that in terms of social media engagement, last night’s VMAs was the most-tweeted program of the year aside from Super Bowl. The event generated an incredible 21.4 million tweets. The biggest Twitter moment? Kayne West “announcing” his run for president in 2020 during [his acceptance speech](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/30/vmas-2015-kanye-west-speech "undefined") for the Video Vanguard Award. The network also points out that online viewership of the awards is growing, with streaming of the show up 155 percent from last year. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/31/vmas-ratings-drop-miley "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com "undefined") _Read next:_ [_See All the Winners of the 2015 VMAs_](http://time.com/4016487/vmas-2015-winners-list-full-taylor-swift/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4017944/miley-cyrus-vma-2015-ratings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4017944/miley-cyrus-vma-2015-ratings/"},"headline":"Miley Cyrus' Censor-Baiting Antics Can't Save VMA's Ratings","datePublished":"2015-08-31T21:03:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:35:38.226Z","description":"Viewership dropped 5%","url":"https://time.com/4017944/miley-cyrus-vma-2015-ratings/","keywords":["Television","Miley Cyrus","MTV","VMAs 2015"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbd14c055f7b6019/698861c78e06018564462249/miley-cyrus-vma-20151.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbd14c055f7b6019/698861c78e06018564462249/miley-cyrus-vma-20151.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Miley Cyrus at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, Aug. 30, 2015.","caption":"Miley Cyrus at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, Aug. 30, 2015.","creditText":"C Flanigan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4017944/miley-cyrus-vma-2015-ratings/","name":"Miley Cyrus' Censor-Baiting Antics Can't Save VMA's Ratings"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"InStyle 2015 VMA Red Carpet","description":"InStyle 2015 VMA Red Carpet","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hdA2D44i/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-31T14:34:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hdA2D44i.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4017944/miley-cyrus-vma-2015-ratings/","duration":"PT1M11S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4017944/miley-cyrus-vma-2015-ratings/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```