The awards ceremony was the least-watched VMA show since 2007 . The major contributing factor was moving the broadcast date to Thursday instead of Sunday , the day MTV been using since 2004 with the exception in 2006 . MTV also moved up the telecast to 8 pm instead of 9 pm , to avoid competing with President Barack Obama 's speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and this was early for MTV 's targeted young audience
2012 Democratic National Convention
2012 Democratic National Convention
MTV Video Music Award