By Cassidy Lee · Originally reported by Richard Horgan (2011) · Wayback archive →
In late August 2011 the MTV Video Music Awards posted their best ratings ever — a record that came with no host on stage, after Chelsea Handler had hosted the 2010 show. The original FishbowlLA framing suggested the VMA ratings might contain a message for the Golden Globes and the Oscars about how to break the prestige-awards-show ratings decline.
Then
Beyoncé’s mid-show pregnancy announcement became one of the most-watched single moments in awards-show history. Lady Gaga’s drag-king performance as Jo Calderone also drew substantial attention. The structural ratings story was that the hostless VMA model had outperformed the hosted version.
Now
The hostless awards-show experiment did get attempted at the Oscars — most notably in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The ratings results were mixed; the broader awards-show ratings decline continued regardless. Beyoncé’s 2011 pregnancy announcement turned out to be the prelude to Blue Ivy Carter’s January 2012 birth — beginning the broader Beyoncé-as-cultural-institution arc that has continued through Renaissance and Cowboy Carter. Streaming and short-form video have absorbed most of the audience-attention that legacy awards shows used to command.
More from the FishbowlLA archive
- Rollin Post dies at 81 — the Bay Area political TV reporter who started in LA
- Scott Feinberg’s 2012 Malibu sitdown with Martin Sheen — the long-form videotape interview as a Hollywood-coverage form
- Joseph Farrell, National Research Group founder, dies — December 2011 obit and the Hollywood test-screening legacy