NEW YORK (AP) – Grammy producers avoided the Zoom awkwardness of other pandemic-era award ceremonies and gave music-starved fans performances from the industry’s biggest stars. And viewers still stayed away.
CBS ‘Grammys broadcast reached 9.2 million viewers – television and streaming – viewers on Sunday, the lowest number ever recorded and a steep 51% drop from last year, the Nielsen company said.
That followed the 63% drop in the Golden Globes’ ratings a few weeks ago and the record numbers for the Emmy Awards last fall.
That’s enough for television executives to worry whether this is just pandemic-related or whether they can no longer rely on these traditional events that grab the attention. The Oscars, which hit ABC next month, were often the most watched televised event of the year after the Super Bowl.
There are multiple factors, including the decline in TV broadcasts in general and the fragmentation of entertainment: there are fewer movies, TV shows, and songs that bring society together. Social media also allows fans to watch the highlights of an awards ceremony later instead of watching the full event, which lasted nearly four hours before Sunday’s Grammys.
For the Grammys, the drop in ratings came despite the common perception that it was a well-produced event.
CBS won the week, averaging 4.9 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 4 million, ABC had 3.4 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1.2 million, and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel ran the cable networks, with an average of 2.45 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.84 million, CNN had 1.29 million, HGTV had 1.15 million, and ESPN had 1.06 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news rating race, averaging 8.9 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.
For the week of March 8-14: the top 20 programs, their networks and viewers:
1. “NCIS”, CBS, 9.78 million.
2. “Grammy Awards,” CBS, 9.23 million.
3. “60 minutes,” CBS, 8.14 million.
4. “FBI”, CBS, 7.66 million.
5. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7,571 million.
6. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 7.57 million.
7. Chicago Fire, NBC, 7.04 million.
8. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.89 million.
9. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.49 million.
10. “President Biden’s Address to Nation,” ABC, 6.34 million.
11. “911”, Fox, 6.28 million.
12. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 6.15 million.
13. “Chicago PD”, NBC, 5.89 million.
14. “President Biden’s Address to Nation,” CBS, 5.83 million.
15. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 5.66 million.
16. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 5.62 million.
17. “American Idol,” ABC, 5.5 million.
18. “Station 19”, ABC, 5.41 million.
19. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.36 million.
20. “Bob Hearts Abishola,” CBS, 5.21 million.