| 2016 MTV Video Music Awards | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | Sunday, August 28, 2016 at 9:00–11:54pm EDT |
| Venue | Madison Square Garden (Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City) |
| Country | United States |
| Most awards | Beyoncé (8) |
| Website | www |
| Television/radio coverage | |
| Network | |
| Produced by | Garrett English Jesse Ignjatovic |
| Directed by | Hamish Hamilton |
The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards were held on Sunday night, August 28, 2016 at 9:00–11:54pm EDT[1] at Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City.[2] Adele's "Hello" was the most nominated video with seven categories. This marked the 33rd edition of the live broadcast. Beyoncé led all winners with nine awards. Rihanna received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award after performing several medley numbers during the ceremony.[3] Britney Spears marked her first performance at the awards show since the heavily criticized 2007 show nine years prior.[4] Beyoncé won eight awards to bring her career total of wins to 25 VMAs, overtaking Madonna's previous record of 20 awards, making her the artist with the most wins in the history of the award show.[5][6]
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.[7]
Compared to the previous 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, making it the lowest rated ceremony in MTV's 32-year history beating out 1996 and 2015, totalling a cumulative 6.5 million viewers (being later beaten by the 2017 edition), though the network also claimed substantial additional streaming viewership across MTV apps and Facebook Live.[8] 3.3 million viewers saw the show via MTV.[9]