Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo by Getty Images
Ratings for the Oscars, Emmys, and other big awards shows have plunged over the past five years, prompting all sorts of speculation about the future of kudocasts. Some industry insiders have even speculated as to whether these celebratory ceremonies would be better off cutting the cord and shifting to streaming, where thereโd be less pressure to generate big audiences โ or to make the sorts of changes currently causing so much unrest among Academy Awards superfans. Weโre about to find out what such a digital future might look like: Tonightโs 57th annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be seen live on Amazonโs Prime Video, making it the first major awards show to be housed exclusively on a digital platform. It almost certainly wonโt be the last.
In many ways, the ACM Awards are an unlikely streaming pioneer. The country-music-themed show was based at CBS from 1998 until last April, having previously done extended stints on both NBC and ABC. While never as big a draw as the Grammys or the American Music Awards, the event remained a powerful Nielsen performer as late as 2019, when it still was able to pull 10 million same-day viewers and nearly double its closest time-slot rivals among adults ages 25 to 54.
But as with so many big linear TV events,ย the pandemic and the continuing expansion of streaming competition took a toll. Last yearโs ACMs telecast fell to just 6 million viewers and turned in an even weaker demo performance. And then, last summer, Paramount Globalโowned CBS pulled out of contract-renewal talks with producer MRC Live & Alternative, deciding instead to partner with sibling cable network CMT to turn its long-running CMT Awards franchise into an exclusive Eye event. MRC, now looking for a new home for the ACMs, held some early conversations…