The MTV Video Music Awards, held Sunday night in downtown Los Angeles, was the most tweeted about television event other than the Super Bowl since records began.
Hosted by Miley Cyrus and dominated by Kanye West, the show generated 69 percent more tweets than last year’s VMAs.
Nielsen Media reports that 2.2 million Twitter users sent a total of 21.4 million tweets about the 2015 VMAs, and that 11.8 million people saw those tweets, making it the most tweeted about program other than an NFL Super Bowl since the company started tracking Twitter activity around TV shows back in 2011.
The most tweeted moment came when Kanye West announced, at the end of his 13-minute-long acceptance speech for the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, that he was running for president in 2020. But Nielsen data shows the majority of those tweets were negative, suggesting West still has a lot of work to do to win the White House.
The VMAs were held downtown at the Microsoft Theatre, formerly Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, with some performances staged outside the nearby Orpheum Theatre.