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The 76th annual Tony Awards brought in a viewership of 4.12 million, figures on par with last year’s ceremony.
As viewers tuned in to Broadway’s biggest night, which aired from 8:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET on CBS, the ceremony brought in 4.12 million total viewers, down 2.37% from last year’s show, and a 0.46 rating score among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data.
Sunday’s ceremony became the most live-streamed Tony Awards to date with the average streaming audience on Paramount+ and other CBS streaming platforms boosting viewership by 13% when compared to year-to-year figures.
The Tony Awards also scored big on social media, with content related to the ceremony drawing in 4.8 billion potential impressions across platforms, according to NetBase calculations. The hashtag #TonyAwards was also trending in top 10 in the U.S. during its three-hour telecast. The ceremony’s live pre-show “The Tony Awards: Act One,” which streamed free of cost on Pluto TV from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Eastern, also became Pluto TV’s most-watched live event.
As expected, the awards show inched closer to pre-pandemic numbers after last year’s ceremony, which drew in 4.22 million viewers, boosted viewership from 2021’s hybrid telecast, which brought in a scarce 2.6 million total viewers and a 0.4 demo rating.
Still, the 2023 ceremony didn’t reach the 2019 show’s figures, which brought in 5.4 million viewers and scored a 0.8 demo rating. For reference, the 2018 telecast received 6.3 million viewers and a 1.0 demo rating while the 2017 ceremony brought in 6 million viewers and a 0.9 rating in the demo.
Tony Award nominee Ariana DeBose reprised her hosting duties for a second consecutive year for Sunday’s show, which took place at the United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood.
In addition to featuring performances from nominated musicals “Camelot,” “Into The Woods,” “New York, New York,” “Parade,” “Some Like It Hot” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” among others, Sunday’s ceremony also put a spotlight on last year’s Best Actress in a Musical winner Joaquina Kalukango (“Paradise Square”), the cast of “A Beautiful Noise” and the cast of “Funny Girl,” starring Lea Michele. The show also hosted a special performance for the Tonys’ Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre award recipients, Joel Grey and John Kander.
Note: This story has been updated to reflect Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures. A previous version of this story that used Nielsen fast national data reported that the Tony Awards drew in 4.31 million total viewers, up 2% from last year’s show.
