MTV to play music videos again ahead of VMAs

Gen-X and millennials rejoice, MTV is going back to playing music videos, but there’s a catch.

It will only be for the lead-up to the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards.

Paramount, the network’s parent company, made the announcement earlier this week.

It’s being called an “unprecedented week of 24/7 music videos across MTV2, MTV Live and MTV Classic, both classic and current, in a revival of the brand’s early DNA reimagined for today’s audiences,” a press release explained. “Past VMA winners and legendary MTV personalities will return to curate and spotlight their seven favorite music videos of all time, offering fans an intimate glimpse into the music videos that shaped them.”

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For years, fans of the network have pleaded for it to return to its original format of nonstop music videos. Over the past 20 years, MTV has gone from music to reality television series like “Laguna Beach,” “My Super Sweet 16,” “Teen Mom,” “The Hills” and more. Now, when you tune to the network, you’re most likely to catch an episode of Rob Dyrdek’s comedy series “Ridiculousness” or the reality-based documentary series “Catfish.”

For this year’s ceremony, MTV is reuniting with Van Toffler, who was at the helm of the network when it was known as Viacom. He made his exit in 2015.

“Toffler’s creative fingerprints are etched into music television history: Beyoncé’s pregnancy reveal, Madonna-Britney-Christina, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, “The Osbournes, “Beavis and Butthead,” “Unplugged,” and “Jackass.”

He and his production studio, Gunpowder & Sky, which he co-founded with Floris Bauer, have inked a multi-year deal with MTV and CBS to “supercharge the show from a single night into a week-long, multiplatform celebration of music and music videos leading up to the main event.” They’ll produce alongside Den of Thieves.

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“The VMAs have always been where music and spectacle collide, and no one embodies that spirit more than Van Toffler,” said Paramount co-CEOs Chris McCarthy and George Cheeks who also run Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and CBS, respectively. “Bringing Van back to the VMAs, along with Gunpowder & Sky, is about reigniting the rebellious soul of the show with a week-long music immersion and delivering global moments that are impossible to ignore.”

“We’re not just producing a show,” said Toffler, CEO of Gunpowder & Sky. “We’re launching a celebration of music that spans one week, every screen and every generation. Music has always been the heartbeat of the VMAs, but the show’s soul comes from its willingness to break rules, embrace unpredictability and reflect the times. This is about honoring that spirit while blowing open what’s possible across every format.”

For the first time ever, CBS will air the 2025 MTV VMAS live from New York’s UBS Arena on Sept. 7 at 8:00-11:00 P.M. EST/5:00-8:00 P.M. PST. It will be streamed on Paramount+. The CBS broadcast will also simulcast on MTV with a one-hour live pre-show to air across Paramount Media Networks.

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