The 57th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards are right around the corner and for the first time ever, a major awards show has moved from network TV, and will go the streaming route.
And while that might sound like quite the monumental first step in the world of streaming, if the ACM Awards’ ratings haven’t fallen off a cliff in recent years, they’d probably still be on CBS.
Last year’s show drew in 6.60 million viewers, way down from 2019, which drew 9.9 million viewers. Not good…
This year, the ACMs will stream on Amazon Prime Video, which is of course free to Amazon Prime members, but will run $8.99 per month if you sign up just for Prime Video (although you could probably sign up for a free trial and just cancel the subscription after the show).
But needless to say, there’s a whole mess of country music fans who don’t have Amazon Prime, can’t afford Amazon Prime in addition to the cable service they already pay for, or aren’t exactly familiar with how streaming services work (looking at you dad).
And many of them are pissed.
Some took to Twitter to voice their frustration:
Others sounded off on Facebook and Instagram:
“Another show that isn’t available to those of us who can’t afford those premium channels! Sad, but maybe I won’t be too upset since it’s hardly Country anymore.”
“That is dumb that it won’t be on a channel that everyone can watch.”
“It could get better if all the people that don’t stream would actually be able to watch it.”
“I wish I could watch it but I don’t have Amazon Prime.”
“It makes me so mad. Just think of all the seniors that faithfully watch it every year. “
“What if you don’t have Amazon Prime. Everyone should be able to watch the awards on regular local channels as well.”
“Why are we allowing Amazon to take over everything?”
“I can’t believe you’re not on network tv. You know how many fans you’re leaving out who can’t watch? Especially the poorer ones who still use basic tv. You don’t care about fans. Only money. This is the perfect definition of country music in 2022.”
“Not all Country Music Fans can afford to watch the show on Amazon? The price to fill my Jeep with gas has close to doubled. “
“Not watching. You should have kept it on regular TV. You all are scumbags.”
And it goes on and on like that…
Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a double edged sword… I’m sure the ACMs would love to still be on CBS or ABC, but since their numbers keep plummeting, networks aren’t looking to shell out the $22 million bucks the ACM Awards was asking for to license the broadcast.
But if you move over to streaming, even less people might be watching… so then what?
It’ll definitely be interesting to see what kind of response the show garners on streaming… and the way just about every other awards show has been tanking lately, I’m sure they’ll all be very interested in the streaming numbers too.
The 57th Annual ACM Awards airs on March 7th… and you guessed it, only on Amazon Prime Video.
Dolly Parton is set to host with help from Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett.
