The Full Story

A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.

Taylor Swift won Video of the Year at the MTV VMAs for The Fate of Ophelia, a video she directed herself. The prize made her the most awarded artist in the show's history, with 31 wins, moving past Beyonce. She had arrived at the Los Angeles ceremony as the joint most successful artist in VMAs history.

The night was presented as a celebration of leading female artists. Madonna, described as the original queen of pop, helped open the event and appeared with Sabrina Carpenter to collect the best collaboration award. Madonna teased Carpenter about how they came to work together, recalling that contact was slow at first before they were in the studio within weeks.

Swift dedicated her award to Dolly Parton, calling her the ultimate showgirl. There was also a tribute from Kacey Musgraves, while the ceremony featured performances from British singers RAYE and Sienna Spiro. Spiro won best new artist and thanked the fans and voters, saying she could not believe the result.

Swift also used the show to reveal a star-studded video for her new song Patient Zero. The win capped a night that underlined her place in pop history, not only as a singer-songwriter but as a director.

On screen

Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.

ITV, ITV Lunchtime News, 28 September 2026

Key Claims

Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.

Claim ITV
Taylor Swift became the most awarded artist in VMAs history, surpassing Beyonce and reaching 31 VMAs.
Taylor Swift won the Video of the Year award at the VMAs for The Fate of Ophelia.

Channel Perspectives

What each channel focused on, with key quotes.

ITV

ITV1 framed the VMAs as a night owned by female stars, with Taylor Swift's record-breaking win as the main news line. Its showbiz report was celebratory and packed with red carpet and ceremony colour, including Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter, Dolly Parton and British winners. It also looked ahead to Swift's new Patient Zero video.

Key Quotes:
  • “a night that belonged to iconic female artists”
  • “she's now won more video music awards than any other artist in history”
  • “thank you to the fans and the people that voted for me i love you”

Who was on air

People and organisations each channel put on air while covering this story. Channels' own presenters and reporters are not listed. Names as transcribed, and the list can miss people.

ITV

Broadcast Timeline

News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.

ITV Lunchtime News