Country music’s reigning power couple had a winning night at Thursday’s Country Music Association Awards, but the ceremony itself was a loser — at least in the ratings.
Blake Shelton, who’s a coach on “The Voice” besides being one of country’s top artists, cleaned up in the awards, winning Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. Meanwhile, his wife, Miranda Lambert, was anointed Female Vocalist of the Year.
Airing on ABC, “The 46th Annual CMA Awards” earned a 3.8 average rating in the key demo of viewers 18-49 in Nielsen overnights, TVbytheNumbers.com reports. That was an all-time low for the ceremony and down 21% from last year’s 4.8 average.
Still, it was enough to give ABC a win for the night. ABC’s 3.8 average rating in 18-49 for prime time topped CBS (3.2 average), Fox (2.3), Univision (1.6) and NBC (1.3). ABC also eked out a win in total viewers, averaging 13.6 million to 12.7 million for CBS, 6.2 million for Fox, 4.1 million to NBC and 3.8 million for Univision.
The top show of the night was CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” with a 5.1 average rating in the 18-49 demo, a season high and up 2% from last week. “Two and a Half Men” was down 3% to a 3.6, “Person of Interest” rose 3% to a 3.0 and “Elementary” climbed 9% to a 2.4.
Fox’s “The X Factor” settled for a 2.3 in adults 18-49, down from a 2.9 for the most recent Thursday telecast.
NBC aired a two-hour repeat of “The Voice” and a fresh episode of “Rock Center,” with both shows delivering a modest 1.3 average in 18-49.
Might this be because few station using Premiere Radio’s CMA feed? From what I was told, Cumulus country music stations were told they couldn’t broadcast the awards. This created interest in viewership. Something to think about… the power of radio and the relationship to TV viewership.