Streaming, eh?
After a dismal performance in the ratings and CBS declining to renew the Academy of Country Music Awards show after this year, it appears as though they’ve made an exclusive deal with Amazon Prime Video for the 2022 show.
It will be the first time a major awards show has livestreamed exclusively, and the ACMs confirmed the news today in a tweet, saying:
“Just announced: The 57th Academy of Country Music Awards will livestream exclusively on @PrimeVideo in 2022 – marking the first time a major awards show has been streamed exclusively.”
They’ve been in need of some big changes for quite a few years now, as ratings have steadily declined consistently, mainly due to the generic sameness of the show and overall disinterest people have now in shows done in this format.
They had previously announced in May of this year that the show would be heading back to Las Vegas after a couple years in Nashville due to COVID restrictions, but it sounds like that is up in the air at this point, too.
The ACM’s followed up their first tweet with a couple of others saying that the date and location of the show in 2022 would be confirmed at a later time:
While it’s still highly unlikely that we’ll be seeing the likes of Sturgill Simpson or Tyler Childers on stage any time soon, maybe Amazon will encourage the ACM’s to shake things up on this new format.
Otherwise, I don’t see the ratings improving at all on this go round, either.
I’d love to say that this is an extremely smart move, and honestly, pretty ahead of the curve for the usually risk-adverse world of executives in country music, but I’m skeptical to see if they can really take advantage of this opportunity. I’m cautiously optimistic about it, I think…
If they don’t really do something different this time, I’m not sure it will have made any difference partnering with Amazon or not.
Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music, said in a statement that they hope to be able to innovate the way they produce the show and present it to the public even more in this new endeavor:
“We are thrilled that the Academy of Country Music Awards are first to take this giant step toward the future of awards shows with Amazon Prime Video.
This partnership, which reinforces our position as an innovative, progressive awards show, will deliver the broadest possible audience and, simultaneously, deliver massive value to our artists whose music lives inside this ecosystem, enabling fans to discover and stream music as they watch.”
MRC, a television programming company, is also partnering with the ACM’s and Amazon Video to assist in production of the show.
Co-CEO Modi Wiczyk echoed the sentiment of innovation:
“We congratulate our partners at the Academy and Amazon for blazing a path for the future of live awards shows.
Our team is excited to be part of the creative and entrepreneurial innovations that streaming technology will unleash.”
I sincerely hope that they can find a way to freshen up the format. If they can’t do it with Amazon, I honestly don’t know how they’ll continue to keep the show going.
While I don’t know anything about streaming services and how that’s going to work with a live awards show, I do know that this… THIS absolutely can’t happen again:
Oh, and maybe DON’T have a tie for entertainer of the year again, either…
Definitely need to keep Chief in the lineup, though…
