2012 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, hosted by Kevin Hart, took place on Thursday, September 6, 2012, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The awards were broadcast from the Staples Center arena at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles. Nominations were announced on July 31, 2012. Rihanna and Drake were the most nominated artists that year, with five nominations apiece, followed by Katy Perry and Beyoncé, who received four.
One Direction was the biggest winner of the night winning their three nominations, including Best New Artist, and Rihanna went on to win Video of the Year. Both M.I.A. and Chris Brown won two awards each.
The awards ceremony, with an average of 6.1 million viewers, was the least-watched VMA show since 2007. The major factor which contributed to the drop in ratings was most likely altering the program's broadcast date to Thursday instead of Sunday, the day MTV had been using since 2004, with the exception of the 2006 ceremony. MTV also moved up the telecast to 8pm instead of 9pm, to avoid competing with President Barack Obama's speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. This was somewhat early for MTV's targeted audience. Best Special Effects renamed Best Visual Effects.
Performances
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Presenters
Pre-show
- Sway Calloway – presented Best Video with a Message
- James Montgomery – presented Best Electronic Dance Music Video
- Jim Cantiello and Ton Do-Nguyen – presented Most Share-Worthy Video
- Christina Garibaldi – Red Carpet
Main show
- Katy Perry – presented Best Pop Video
- Dwight Howard – chatted with host Kevin Hart and introduced the next set of presenters
- Miley Cyrus and Mac Miller – introduced P!nk
- Demi Lovato and Rita Ora – presented Best Male Video
- Zoe Saldaña – introduced Frank Ocean
- Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg – presented Best Hip-Hop Video
- The Wanted and Rebel Wilson – presented Best Female Video
- Psy – appeared and danced to his "Gangnam Style" on stage with host Kevin Hart while he introduced the next presenters
- Ezra Miller and Emma Watson – introduced Green Day
- Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Bill Condon, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Jackson Rathbone – introduced an exclusive Breaking Dawn: Part 2 sneak peek preview
- Kesha and Wiz Khalifa – presented Best New Artist
- The Fierce Five – introduced Alicia Keys
- Kevin Hart – presented Video of the Year and introduced Taylor Swift