2011 MTV VMAs Named Most-Viewed Broadcast in Network’s History

Sunday night's Video Music Awards telecast was the highest-rated broadcast in MTV's 30-year history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers, according to Bloomberg.

That's a 9 percent increase over last year. The awards were preceded by an episode of the network's biggest current hit, 'Jersey Shore,' which may have helped its ratings. Even the pre-show was a big success, with 7.3 million viewers, an increase of 16 percent over 2010.

"Every one of the artists delivered beyond our expectations,” said MTV president Stephen Friedman. “What we saw was each artist raise the bar.”

The 2011 VMAs seemed to have something for everyone, with Lady Gaga's theatrical performance in drag featuring Queen guitarist Brian May, a sincere Amy Winehouse tribute from Bruno Mars, classy vocal performances by Beyonce and Adele, a recognition of Britney Spears' body of work, and hip-hop excitement from Lil Wayne and Jay-Z with Kanye West.

MTV also reported that visitors to their website were up over last year, and that 3 million VMA-related tweets were posted during the show, 1 million more than in 2010.