The 2018 #MTV #VMAs had the lowest viewership in the show's history

The numbers are in — and they’re not good.

The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards officially earned the show’s lowest ratings in the network’s history.
For the second straight year, the MTV Video Music Awards drew its smallest audience ever.
Monday's show drew 2.25 million viewers and a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49.
Across eight Viacom-owned channels, it drew 4.87 million viewers and a 2.2 in the demo; both sets of numbers fall short of the 2017 VMAs, which set the previous low. The awards also aired on a ninth Viacom network, TV Land, for which numbers weren't immediately available. It is highly unlikely, however, that enough people tuned in there to push the VMAs past their 2017 on-air total of 5.36 million viewers and 2.6 rating in adults 18-49.

The 2017 awards also aired opposite a huge Game of Thrones finale on HBO; the heaviest head-to-head competition on cable Monday was WWE Monday Night Raw on USA (1.1 in 18-49, 3.1 million viewers) and an NFL preseason game on ESPN (0.8, 2.66 million). The MTV-only airing is down 15 percent in viewers and 21 percent in adults 18-49 versus 2017. The simulcast is off about 9 percent in viewers and 15 percent in the demo. The VMAs suffered even steeper declines among MTV's core viewership of teens and young adults. In the 18-34 demo, the show's 1.2 rating fell by almost half — 47 percent, to be precise — from 2.2 a year ago. It declined by similar percentages in the 12-34 cohort. Camila Cabello won video of the year honors at the VMAs for "Havana," and Jennifer Lopez received the Video Vanguard Award.

The show also featured a tribute — of sorts — to Aretha Franklin by Madonna.