The 2022 CMT Music Awards made its CBS debut on Monday night to 5.16 million live viewers, according to early Nielsen numbers reported by the eye. That’s up a whopping 521% from last year when it aired across CMT, MTV, Paramount television network and TV Land, as well as CMT.com.
The Monday night telecast aired live on CBS and Paramount+. The early viewership data includes live streams across digital platforms, but does not yet include out-of-home viewing.
The network projected final viewership numbers, which are expected on Tuesday, to be upwards of 5.5 million.
According to CBS, the 2022 CMT Awards also generated 2.5 billion “potential social impressions.”
“For the first time ever, the CMT Awards aired live on CBS and Paramount+ to record success, showcasing our linear and streaming partnership and enabling us to welcome more incredible fans to celebrate the best of country music,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. “One of our goals at Paramount is to maximize our biggest awards shows – including the Grammys and Tonys – and this collaboration is another win for our company, providing a terrific opportunity to amplify the CMT brand through broader distribution.”
Monday night’s ceremony was hosted by Kane Brown, Anthony Mackie, and Kelsea Ballerini — who had to host virtually from home after contracting COVID. Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood were the biggest winners of the night, taking home Video of the Year as well as Collaborative Video of the Year for their song “If I Didn’t Love You.”
Other winners included Miranda Lambert (Female Video of the Year), Cody Johnson (Male Video of the Year), Maddie & Tae (Group Duo Video of the Year) and more.
The CMT Music Awards will re-air on CMT with an additional 30 minutes of new performances and extra bonus content on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.