The special 7pm Sunday night episode of Jersey Shore prior to the Video Music Awards drew 8.0 million viewers, up 40% from the 5.7 million that watched the pre-VMA episode last year (which was on 9/12/10). It drew a 7.5 rating in the MTV target 12-34 demo, which was up 36% vs. last year.
As big a jump as that was from last year, it was still down from Jersey Shore's most recent Thursday ratings. The 7pm hour certainly holding down the ratings.
Bigger than "Jersey Shore" -- that's how big Sunday's record-breaking Video Music Awards on MTV was.
The 2011 VMAs featuring performances by Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and Lil Wayne, not to mention a strange cross-dressing act kept up all night from Lady Gaga -- delivered 12.4 million total viewers, making it MTV's most-watched telecast ever, according to the Nielsen Co. The audience was up 9% compared with last year's VMAs.
In MTV's core demographic of viewers ages 12 to 34, the show averaged 8.5 million, also a record for the network.
The VMAs attracted extra attention this year for going without a host. Last year Chelsea Handler earned mixed reviews for her hosting work.
