ACM Awards Makes Move To Streaming

The 57th annual ACM Awards returns Monday, becoming the first major awards event to cut ties with network television, opting instead for a commercial-free show that fans can find exclusively via Prime Video, reports The Tennessean. 

Free of advertising commitments and backed by one of the world's largest tech companies, ACM producers embrace streaming as an opportunity to reach a young audience, recalibrate viewing expectations and adopt a fast-rising medium for small-screen appointment programs. 

Set for a 7 p.m. kickoff inside Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium, Dolly Parton co-hosts the show alongside newcomers Gabby Barrett and Jimmie Allen. 

Dolly Parton takes the stage to receive the Tex Ritter award during the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards.

For Damon Whiteside, chief executive officer of the Academy of Country Music, migrating the tentpole event to a streaming service points toward the future of award shows, he said. 

"It allows us to innovate how we do the show and bring it right to the fans," Whiteside said. "We know fans are on streaming platforms. We've seen in research that they feel programs [that] are on streaming platforms seem more interesting to them than traditional broadcast. We felt this was a great opportunity for us to get a foothold in the future."

Since the late 1990s, viewers flipped to CBS for the Academy of Country Music Awards, a West Coast-rooted operation launched in 1966 that rivals the Nashville-based Country Music Association Awards. 

CBS and the ACMs dissolved its longstanding broadcast deal in 2021, opening a door for organizers to dive head-first into live streaming with a digital heavyweight. In partnering with a subscription service, showrunners can bypass cable advertising pressure to "go directly to the customer," said longtime ACM Awards producer RAC Clark, son of late media personality Dick Clark.  

The move comes as award shows continue to lose eyeballs on traditional television. The ACMs drew 6.3 million viewers in 2021, down from 6.6 million in 2020, per Billboard. Those pandemic-impacted shows tumbled from nearly 10 million viewers in 2019, according to Variety. 

And no genre appears immune to sharply-declining viewership. The 2021 Grammy Awards reached 8.8 million viewers last year, a 53% drop from 2020. In Nashville, the 2021 CMA Awards reached roughly 6.8 million viewers, similar to nearly 7.1 million it reached in 2020, but down from 2019’s estimated 11.3 million. 

So, ACM leadership gambles this year on the place where eyeballs continue to grow: Streaming.

Between 2015 and 2021, cable-cutting grew dramatically: Seven years ago, 24% of adults did not receive cable or satellite service at home; that number increased to 44% in 2021, according to a Pew Research study.

With Amazon Prime Video, Whiteside said the ACMs aim for at least two key demographics: Young viewers and international audiences.

Adults age 18-29 who receive cable or satellite services dropped from 65% to 34% between 2015 and 2021, according to Pew Research. Of that age group, 91% told Pew they opt out of cable because they can find desired content online.