Grammy Awards drop to record high after 51% drop

Grammy producers avoided the Zoom awkwardness of other pandemic-era award shows and gave music-hungry fans performances from the industry’s biggest stars. And viewers have always stayed away.

Broadcasting of the CBS Grammys reached 9.2 million viewers – television and streaming – on Sunday, the lowest number on record and a steep 51% drop from last year, the Nielsen company said.

This follows the 63% drop in Golden Globe ratings a few weeks ago and record Emmy ratings last fall.

That’s enough to make TV executives wonder if this is just a pandemic or if they can no longer depend on these traditional, attention-grabbing events.

The Oscars, which will be held next month on ABC, have often been the most-watched TV event of the year after the Super Bowl.

Multiple factors

The factors are manifold, including the decline of television broadcasting 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 see highlights from an awards show later instead of watching the full event, which for Sunday’s Grammys lasted nearly four hours.

For the Grammys, the drop in ratings came despite the general opinion that it was a well-produced event.

CBS won the week, averaging 4.9 million prime-time viewers. NBC had 4 million, ABC 3.4 million, Fox 2.6 million, Univision 1.4 million, Ion Television 1.2 million, and Telemundo 1 million.

Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.45 million prime-time viewers. MSNBC had 1.84 million, CNN 1.29 million, HGTV 1.15 million, and ESPN 1.06 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news audience race, averaging 8.9 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.

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For the week of March 8 to 14, the 20 best programs, their networks and their audience:

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 the 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 the 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.

Source: AP