Thursday, March 28, 2024

Go Figure: American Music Awards Puts on Good Show, Gets Bad Ratings, Down 2.5 Million Plus Viewers from Last Year

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Isn’t this how it goes? The American Music Awards put on a good show last night on ABC, with Taylor Swift, Camilla Cabello, and Gladys Knight leading a wonderful Aretha Franklin gospel tribute.

The result: 2.5 million fewer viewers than last year. The AMAs were trounced in the 10-11 pm hour by scripted programming on the other networks. The 2.4 rating from last year fell to 1.8.

The good news is that by moving the show from November to early October, ABC actually scored much better numbers in a year-to-year comparison by date. The AMAs improved on the ABC comedy block of October 9, 2017.

Still, the decline follows all other awards shows. The AMAs last night had 6.2 million or so fans. Last year they were up to over 9 million.

It’s too bad. Aretha Franklin would have loved her tribute. The other performances were all very good, if not spectacular in any way. Taylor Swift is milking a year old release at this point. Mariah Carey was…stolid. The AMAs had no rock stars, though, and nothing that really popped. The coming Grammy Awards in February 2019 should take heed. But they should feature Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Cher, and other, bigger stars.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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