This year's viewing figures for the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night (August 27), were the worst in the ceremony’s history.

According to the Associated Press, the event was viewed by 5.69 million viewers over 10 different networks.

The 2016 VMAs were watched by 6.5 million viewers, while 2015 raked in 9.8 million viewers.

This year’s MTV VMAs was hosted by pop superstar Katy Perry, who along with Nicki Minaj, blew up the basketball metaphor on their song "Swish Swish" to giant proportions. Taylor Swift premiered her new music video for her single "Look What You Made Me Do", P!nk gave an empowering speech about body image after accepting the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, Jared Leto delivered a moving tribute to Linkin Park‘s Chester Bennington and Kendrick Lamar began the show with a fiery opener, as well as collecting six trophies for his "Humble" music video.

Yet, despite the host of big names involved in the evening, it's the fourth year consecutively in which viewing ratings have dropped.

While this could be a troubling sign for MTV, there may be contributing factors that have not yet been determined, as Nielsen ratings indicate that more teens still tuned into this year’s VMAs than HBO's popular Game of Thrones season finale.

Watch videos of the MTV VMAs 2017, below: