TV Ratings: CMA Awards Tops All Other Award Shows

ABC’s CMA Awards took a tumble Wednesday, plummeting 34 percent in TV ratings from 2017. The special was down 30 percent year over year in total viewers.

Still, ABC easily won each half-hour of the evening, according to The Wrap citing Nielsen data.

With “Empire,” Fox finished second in primetime among adults 18-49. NBC was No. 2 in overall audience members.

ABC was first in ratings with a 2.1 rating/9 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 10.1 million, according to preliminary numbers. That was all the CMAs.

However, Nashville Music Watcher Kurth Bardella, publisher of Morning Hangover, provides some context:

• The 2018 American Music Awards (AMA) drew 6.5 million viewers
• The 2018 Billboard Music Awards garnered a little less than 7 million viewers
• The People's Choice Awards attracted 1.67 million viewers 
• The MTV VMAs got 2.25 million viewers
• The Teen Choice Awards got 1.7 million viewers
• The BET Awards drew more than 4.3 million viewers. 

Adds Bardella, "I was seeing some stories populate about ratings compared to last year, but I think it's important for whoever might be talking about this to point out that the CMAs still did significantly better than just about any other all-genre music award show this year."