TV Ratings: Record Low Numbers For the Grammys

Grammy producers avoided the Zoom awkwardness of other pandemic-era awards shows and gave music-starved fans performances by the industry’s biggest stars. And viewers still stayed away, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

CBS’ Grammys telecast reached 9.2 million — television and streaming — viewers Sunday, the lowest number on record and a precipitous 51% drop from last year.

That followed the Golden Globes’ 63% decline in ratings a few weeks ago and record low ratings for the Emmy Awards last fall.

That’s enough for television executives to worry about whether this is just pandemic-related or if they can no longer depend on these traditional attention-getting events. The Oscars, coming up next month on ABC, has often been the year’s most-watched television event after the Super Bowl.

There are multiple factors, including the decline of broadcast TV in general and the fragmentation of entertainment: There are fewer movies, TV shows and songs that pull society together. Social media also allows fans to catch highlights of an awards show later instead of watching the full event, which for Sunday’s Grammys lasted nearly four hours.

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.

👉Top 20 PrimeTime Shows (Total 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.

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

Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 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.

👉Basic Cable TV (Total Viewers):

Season-to-date, “Live” is also No. 1 in syndication in total viewers and households — the first time the former “Live With Kelly and Michael” and “Live With Regis and Kelly” can say that too in its entire history, reports The Wrap.

For the first time ever, “Live With Kelly and Ryan” has been the No. 1 daytime talk show among women 25-54 for 52 straight weeks. That includes both network and syndicated daytime talk shows, and counts all 33 seasons and various hosting iterations of what was once “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee.”

It also includes 12 weeks of ties.

As you might expect, “Live With Kelly and Ryan” is this season’s top daytime talk show in that key demo, averaging a 0.8 rating according to Nielsen’s Live + Same Day metric. Runner-up “Dr. Phil” is currently averaging a 0.7 rating in the 2020-21 television season.