MTV Video Music Award Ratings Fall Off 50 Percent From 2011 Record

Blame a start-time shift to accommodate the Democratic National Convention finale and President Obama's nomination-acceptance speech. Blame the inevitable realization that MTV has as much to do with musical relevance as Santa Claus has to do with Chanukah.

Whatever the reason, The Hollywood Reporter said Friday, Thursday night's MTV Video Music Awards broadcast drastically under-performed.

How much did ratings sink? Well, without even an official host to headline the telecast, the 2011 VMAs marked a second consecutive year of increased viewership and set a VMA record with 12.4 million viewers catching the show. By comparison, 6.1 million tuned in to Thursday night's ceremony hosted by energetic stand-up comic Kevin Hart.

To be absolutely fair, the show was indeed bumped from its usual Sunday-evening slot this year as well into a Thursday - not the typical night award shows are held. On Tuesday, MTV announced the show's bump an hour earlier to a runtime of 8-10 p.m. ET in order to avoid running up against Obama's closing remarks.

Even with the reduced viewership, the VMAs still earned a 5.3 rating among viewers age 12-34, MTV's bread-and-butter target.

More surprising still was that viewership fell despite what's become a traditional proven draw. "Twilight" co-stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner appeared to present a world-premiere, 90-second preview heralding the coming in November of the franchise-concluding "Breaking Dawn Part 2." The fifth and final "Twilight" chapter has received additional notoriety in the past month following star Kristen Stewart's early August admission to cheating on co-star and now-estranged boyfriend Pattinson.