With the reigning pop-diva trio of Miley, Katy and Gaga all performing, the American Music Awards soared to its best ratings in four years among total viewers and the adult demo.
The AMAs had 12.9 million viewers and a 4.5 rating among adults 18-49 Sunday night, up a strong 32 percent from last year. The numbers represent the show’s second-biggest audience in 11 years, plus was up 86 percent from 2012 among teen viewers. The AMAs easily dominated every other entertainment show on broadcast.
One suspects Miley Cyrus may be at least partly to thank for the teen surge and general what-will-she-do-next interest. Cyrus’ revealing bikini met fans’ high/low expectations. Yet her performance of “Wrecking Ball” was more cutely weird (crying space cat!) than overtly sexual (video below), like something dreamed up on a Reddit comment thread. Performances by J. Lo, Xtina, Rihanna, One Direction, Pitbull and others couldn’t hurt either.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
