The MTV Video Music Awards, also called the VMAs, were established at the end of the summer of 1984 by MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year. Originally beginning as an alternative to the Grammy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards have become a respected pop culture awards show in its own right, and have often been called the "Super Bowl for youth", an acknowledgement of the Awards ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year.Elliot, Stewart, "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; MTV's sponsors hope the Video Music Awards can draw a crowd, without wardrobe malfunctions," The New York Times, August 20, 2004, accessed September 16, 2009 By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award.[news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1456093.stm "MTV's irresistible rise
", July 31, 2001, accessed September 16, 2009] They are presented annually, and broadcast live on MTV.

Past broadcasts have been held in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Las Vegas. In 2008, the MTV Video Music awards were held in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California at Paramount Pictures Studios (which, like MTV, is owned by Viacom). The statue given to winners is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV. Before 2002, the VMAs were traditionally held on the second Thursday of September. The VMAs' date was moved back a week so that it would never coincide with the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.