TV Ratings: Grammys Score Biggest Audience Since Pre-Pandemic
The Grammy Awards recorded their biggest TV audience in four years on Sunday, posting big ratings improvements over the 2023 ceremony.
CBS’ telecast, which saw Taylor Swift take home album of the year honors and best pop vocal album, drew 17.09 million viewers, according to final same-day ratings from Nielsen. That’s the biggest tune-in for the Grammys since 2020, the last one held before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The awards were up 36 percent year to year, rising from 12.55 million viewers in 2023. The 17.09 million viewers for the CBS broadcast does not include streaming; the network says Paramount+’s live stream of the Grammys more than doubled in viewers year to year but didn’t provide concrete numbers (as is typical for streaming outlets).
The show scored even bigger gains in the key ad-sales demographic of adults 18-49: Its 4.04 rating among that age group (equivalent to 5.34 million people) improved by 40 percent year to year.
The sizable growth for the Grammys is in keeping with that of the Golden Globe Awards, which rose 51 percent year to year (with an assist from an NFL lead-in). CBS aired the Globes in January after they moved from their long-time home at NBC. The displaced Emmy Awards, on the other hand, suffered more declines airing four months later than usual on Fox.
E!’s coverage of the Grammys red carpet also scored its biggest audience since 2020. The pre-show averaged 1.5 million viewers, up from 1.1 million a year go.
Despite the big gains for the Grammys, they’re still short of the show’s pre-pandemic average — a symptom of the gradual decline of linear TV. From 2016-20, the awards averaged 21.88 million viewers and a 6.48 rating in the 18-49 demo.
Feb. 6, 7:55 a.m. Updated with final ratings figures for the Grammys.
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