Throughout this pandemic year, audiences have eagerly watched more TV, but award shows seem shut out of the COVID boost. The American Music Awards (AMA) on November 22nd were the latest in a string of award shows down year over year, with 4 million households tuning in, according to Samba TV. That’s down 20 per cent from last year.

A few select demographics popped for the AMA show last night: Black households over-indexed 7 per cent above the US overall, and Chicago and Sacramento both over-indexed at 46 per cent.

Again, the AMAs are the latest in a string of sagging ratings for award shows:

• On November 15th, the E! People’s Choice Awards drew only 930,000 US households, down 23 per cent from 2019, according to Samba.
• The Emmys, on September 20th, grabbed 4.7 million US households during the broadcast, representing less than a 1 per cent drop from the previous year. That drop might have been much steeper, if not for heavy viewership on the west coast, which was dealing with wildfires that kept people indoors through much of that weekend. Samba data also shows a steady decline in viewership throughout the broadcast.
• On September 16th, 4.7 million US households tuned into the 55th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, a decline of 20 per cent from 2019’s broadcast.
• On August 30th, MTV’s 37th annual MTV Video Music Awards was viewed by 4.1 million US households, a decline of 8 per cent from the previous year.

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Content, Research

Tags: AMA, E!, Emmys, Samba TV