Grammys Shed 10 Million Viewers From Last Year, Set New Low

Sunday’s Grammys settled for 8.8 million total viewers across multiple platforms. That tally is down a full 10 million viewers from last year’s telecast (18.8 million total viewers), and basically halves the annual CBS awards show’s previous record-low audience (16.9 million total viewers back in 2006). Last night’s primetime special, hosted by “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah (pictured above) had a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen. The prior low was set last year, when the Grammy Awards received a 5.4 rating in the key demo. Even inclusive of CBS, CBS.com, the CBS app and Paramount+ (the former CBS All Access, which was expanded a few weeks ago), the overall Grammys audience shrunk 53% year to year. In the main demo, the decline was -61%. On the plus side, the 2021 Grammys did outdraw the 2021 Golden Globes, so there’s that. Find Sunday’s complete list of winners here. Find the entire (electronically maintained) history of Grammys viewership here. In an interview with Variety, Grammys executive producer Ben Winston predicted his show’s ratings would be down 40%. Turns out, that was optimistic. “Since we’re talking to Variety, I hope the story the next day won’t be ‘Ratings Down by 40%!’” he said, “because they will be. We all know that television is changing, and I think [the Grammys’] streaming numbers, digital engagement and viewing online will be up, and those eyes matter to me just as much as the demo of the network.” Though Winston will probably not be happy with our headline, it should provide him some comfort that he is not alone in the struggle. Two weeks prior to the 63rd Grammys, NBC’s Golden Globes shed 63% of total viewers from the previous year, plummeting from 18.4 million overall TV viewers to 6.9 million. Its 1.4 rating in the key demo was down 68% from 2020’s 4.7. Both, as you might imagine, were all-time lows for the annual HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) special.