The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 28, 2016[1] at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.[2] Adele's "Hello" was the most nominated video with seven categories. Beyoncé led the nominations with a total of eleven, followed by Adele, who had eight.[3] Rihanna received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award after performing several medley numbers during the ceremony.[4] Britney Spears marked her first performance at the awards show since the heavily-criticized 2007 show nine years prior.[5] Beyoncé won eight awards to bring her career total of wins to 24 VMAs, overtaking Madonna's previous record of 20 awards, making her the artist with the most wins in the history of the award show.[6][7]
The ceremony was shown on multiple Viacom cable networks and through smart TV and mobile devices which allow access to MTV's TV Everywhere-authenticated live stream within their app (dependent upon provider), along with MTV's website and Facebook Live.[8]
Compared to last year's show which had a lesser amount of Viacom networks simulcasting the ceremony, the 2016 ceremony's numbers showed a 35% drop across the measured networks carrying the ceremony, totalling a cumulative 6.5 million viewers, though the network also claimed substantial additional streaming viewership across MTV apps and Facebook Live.[9] 3.3 million viewers saw the show via MTV.[10]
