MTV Movie & TV Awards Ratings Shoot Up With Tiffany Haddish, Scheduling Move

By Daniel Holloway

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The MTV Movie & TV Awards got a big ratings boost from host Tiffany Haddish and a savvy scheduling shift.

The Monday-night telecast drew 3.371 million total viewers across 10 Viacom-owned cable channels, including MTV and VH1 — up 21% from the 2017 installment — according to Nielsen live-plus-same day. Monday’s show was also up 20% from last year in the 18-34 demo with a 2.39 rating, and up 21% in the 18-49 demo at 2.21.

Viewership was more concentrated this year on core channels MTV and VH1. Total viewership on the two networks was up 37% from last year, while ratings grew 30% in the 18-34 demo and 35% in 18-49.

Looking at the seven channels that aired the telecast this year and last, the show was up 27% in total viewers, 25% in 18-49, and 21% in 18-34.

Nielsen also dubbed the show the most social television program of the evening. According to MTV internal data, the awards show was streamed 83 million times, more than double last year’s show.

Much of the viewership increase can likely be attributed to host , a high-profile get coming off her performance last year in the hit film “Girls Trip.” Haddish received largely positive reviews for her turn hosting an awards show highlighted by wins for “Black Panther” and “Stranger Things.” MTV also moved the award show this year to June from May, part of a strategy to shift into the Emmy-voting window in hopes of luring talent. Also new was the shift from Sunday night to Monday, where bothe MTV and VH1 typically enjoy higher than normal audience circulation.