UPDATE CBS later reported 8.93 million in fast overnight ratings. So that’s a big difference from 7.8 mil but still terrible. We’ll know more on Tuesday morning.
EARLIER The Grammy Awards were a ratings dud.
Despite putting on an excellent, classy show, the Recording Academy came in with just 7.8 million viewers. That’s down from 8.8 million last year, an 11% drop.
The show still won the evening and beat “American Idol,” its biggest competition, handily.
But the low number is a disappointment considering some great segments, especially Lady Gaga in her tribute to Tony Bennett, Lenny Kravitz with HER Music, the appearance of Joni Mitchell with Bonnie Raitt, and so on.
Indeed, this was the classiest Grammy show in many years. And that’s an accomplishment considering it was produced for the first time ever in Las Vegas, and was three months late.
There are some quibbles, but there are always quibbles. I can go into them later. But Ben Winston and CBS tried to appeal to a wide audience with lots of rap, R&B, country, and Latinx music. They have to be crestfallen.
Meantime, winner Jon Batiste got a big sales bounce. His album is number 1 and his single is number 2, on iTunes.
