In one of the least-shocking headlines you’ll read today, the ACM awards show last night had pretty dismal ratings.
According to Deadline, in the adults 18-49 demographic, which is their key demo, they drew 6.08 million viewers in the Nielsen Live+Same Day number.
That makes it the lowest-rated, least-watched ACM Awards show in history.
On the flip side, the show did have the highest ratings compared to other networks in that same key demo for that time slot. So, it was technically the most-watched show of the evening between the major networks.
Either way, it was lackluster at best (to put it mildly), and I really can’t say I’m surprised in the least to see that their ratings were majorly down.
There were a few noteworthy highlights which included a full-throttle performance by Eric Church, Alan Jackson taking the ACM’s stage and an acoustic version of “In His Arms” from The Marfa Tapes trio.
Other than that, it was the same old same old with the usual performers and winners. Thomas Rhett took home male artist of the year, Maren Morris took that award home for the ladies, and Luke Bryan won top honors with the entertainer of the year award.
There was even a delightful lip syncing fiasco from your duo of the year Dan + Shay, which turned out to be caused by a delay in the broadcast due to it being shot in multiple locations.
If they want to get their ratings up, maybe they could start with having actually country bands perform… you know, the ones that people actually want to see, like Whiskey Myers:
Or, you know… getting the awards right.
If they don’t figure out a way to freshen up the format of these shows, and think about including some real country artists in the mix, there may not be many more to look forward to… and wouldn’t that be a shame? It’s crazy that stuff like that even needs to be said, but it really is as simple as that. We gotta get back to what country music used to mean when it comes to these awards shows.
Here’s OUR Entertainer of the Year, Mr. Eric Church, bringing the house down last night with one of his newest tracks “Bunch Of Nothing.”
