The Challenge skipped a week due to the VMAs. Did viewers return after the break, or was this change too confusing?
Episode 5 was viewed by 406,000 people with a 0.20 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This is a decrease of 73,000 viewers compared to episode 4 and the demo went down by 0.01. It was the third highest-rated cable show of the night, and it was the eighth-highest-rated TV show in the 18-49 demo, network TV included.
A part of me isn’t surprised to see ratings go down because some viewers were likely confused after the VMAs hiatus. However, the VMAs used to be a big event for MTV and commercials aired during the broadcast would renew interest in MTV’s current programming. It seems those days are part of a bygone era.
Here are some benchmarks to compare this episode:
Battle of the Eras Episode 4: 479,000 viewers (0.21 rating)
Battle for a New Champion Episode 5 : 391,000 viewers (0.17 rating)
Stop Being Polite 