How’s this for a reality check on how the sands of time have drizzled through the hourglass: The MTV Music Video Awards is now older than all but three of the 1384 men who have played major league baseball this year. Older than every single position player.
And in the corporate superstructure of New Paramount where pretty much everything other than streaming and Bari Weiss is considered a secondary priority, that now means that the once uber-contemporary answer to a far older Grammy Awards now qualifies to be run on CBS, the network that has carried them as a welcome aberrative to their usual demographic skew since 1973–in other words, the season that produced the premieres of M*A*S*H and MAUDE.
In the bigger strategic picture, this is phasing out the old and phasing in the somewhat less old. CBS is dropping the Grammys due (they say) to the cost after this coming February, so heck, why not elevate something you own rather than rent to occupy your entire spectrum of networks, rather than merely the one it’s just named for and the relevant sister spin-offs that fall under a division that also carries that brand name.
MTV essentially started the concept of multicasting with these awards more than a decade ago, primarily as a way to aggregate eyeballs and avoid the delicate concept of trying to counterprogram your company’s signature event. Heaven forbid you’d miss out on the tens of thousands of stragglers who might have chosen to watch a rerun of MARTIN. Now, you don’t even have to worry about 60 MINUTES–that was pre-empted last night and no, it had nothing to do with the wishes of the current White House administration.
There was a full-page wraparound ballyhooing this monumental event that added considerable proportionate weight to what remains of the print LOS ANGELES TIMES Sunday edition yesterday. That CBS audience needed to be reached somehow, and even the penny-pinchers at Skydance had to acknowledge that the likelihood of doing so wasn’t guaranteed through digital and cable.
It was all the more apropos considering last night’s venue was not the gritty streets of Manhattan or Brooklyn, as it had been for memorable VMAs of the past. Nope, it was the state-of-the-art but decidely suburban setting of the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, a few long strides over the Queens-Nassau county border adjacent to a race track and a short limo ride from the Valley Stream LIRR station. I know that route intimately; around the same time MTV itself began I’d venture to my college roommate’s house on summer Sundays for spaghetti and sausage and his family’s ability to subscribe to cable that we outer borough folk didn’t have at the time.
Hence, it was all the more apropos that the night’s de facto winner was someone I’ve actually heard of, and who I know has broad enough appeal to include uber fans old enough to not only know what and where CBS is, but whose viewing habits include an awful lot of their other shows. UPI’s Danielle Haynes took note:
Lady Gaga won Artist of the Year at Sunday’s Video Music Awards…Winning the first award of the night, Lady Gaga thanked her “little monsters” for “always supporting me and always supporting the monster in me.” “I hope as you navigate through the mayhem of daily life you are reminded of the importance of art in your life,” Lady Gaga said. Lady Gaga had the most nominations at this year’s VMAs, including Video of the Year and Song of the Year. She won three categories announced before the live event — for Best Album (Mayhem) and Best Direction and Best Choreography for “Abracadabra.”
But PEOPLE’s Marina Watts observed that Gaga wasn’t going to give up her urban appeal quite yet, merely paying a visit to Lon Gisland:
The 14-time Grammy winner, who is up for 12 VMAs tonight, taped her songs for the star-studded awards show during her Saturday, Sept. 6, show at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Gaga, 39, pre-taped her theatrical production for the VMAs because she is performing at the Garden in Manhattan…Gaga did make an appearance at the awards show, however, to accept the Moon Person for Artist of the Year at the top of the show before heading back to Madison Square Garden. She gave a passionate speech, describing her commitment to being an artist and dedicating her award to the audience.
Maybe the proud UWS native whose famiglia will gladly make you a damn good lasagna for slightly under $30 at their trattoria at 68th and Columbus wasn’t quite ready for the ‘burbs. But proud daughter of Huntington Mariah Carey was only too happy to return to her haunts, finally a winner via a Vanguard Award last night. And yet another recognizable name even to CBS’ audience was indifferent and actually stuck around for her shining moment, as THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Kimberley Nordyke detailed:
Ariana Grande won video of the year at the 2025 Video Music Awards, which were handed out Sunday night. The video for her song “brighter days ahead” won the night’s highest honor. Overall, Grande went home with a total of three awards.
Oh, yeah. She was the gal in WICKED. And all of this was presided upon by LL Cool J. Yah know, the dude that used to be on NCIS: LOS ANGELES.
Look, I happen to be fully on board with this move. Aside from the optimization of corporate assets and synergies, I have little doubt this will end up as one of the most-viewed VMAs in many years. Paramount + alone can’t move the aggregate audience needle, and if there’s a snowball’s chance someone under 40 might decide that THE ROAD might be worth sticking around for after football on a future fall Sunday night so much the better. If I had been given these cards to play I’d have done the exact same thing, and I probably would have lobbied to buy a wraparound on THE WALL STREET JOURNAL to boot.
But then again, I’m actually in the CBS wheelhouse. I confess I rarely, if ever, turn on MTV any more. Their viewers likely appreciated the new artist winners and the more contemporary performances. I know unlike moi they can pick Sabrina Carpenter out of a police lineup.
So I’m glad I had the opportunity for a communal viewing experience with Generation X and millennials for a change. At least you now know that CBS still exists and where these days you can find it. I’ll see you again for the Grammys.
Until next time…