Strong Ratings For American Music Awards

NEW YORK (AP) – There’s nothing like a lip-synching kitty to juice ratings.

The Nielsen company said that viewership for ABC’s telecast of the “American Music Awards” on Sunday was up 38 percent over last year. The most-discussed part of the broadcast was Miley Cyrus singing her hit “Wrecking Bell” with a giant machine cat looming on the screen behind her, mouthing the words.

The 13 million people who watched represented the second-biggest audience for the music awards show in 11 years, behind only 2009.

It was especially big among youths between 12 and 17, where the awards show was the most-watched thing on TV last week.