CMT Award Viewership Increases 521% After Move to CBS

This year’s CMT Music Awards brought in record-breaking numbers. The show’s viewership increased by over 500% from last year, and the surge is being credited to the show’s transition to platforms CBS and Paramount+. This year is the first that the CMT Music Awards were broadcasted via CBS.  

According to Deadline, the broadcast received an estimated 5.50 million views across both platforms.

The 2021 awards paled in comparison. The CMT Music Awards for 2021 earned 828,000 viewers—a fraction compared to this year. While the 2021 show was broadcasted over more platforms, such as CMT, Logo, MTV, and TV Land, the three-hour-long awards ceremony didn’t perform as well, comparatively.  

CBS’ broadcasts have performed significantly well for CMT, but for other award ceremonies, it’s a different story. The network’s broadcast of the Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards in 2021 received an all-time low viewership. The ACM Awards have since been moved to Amazon Prime Video, which has not released official numbers for the award show.

This year’s CMT Music Awards Ceremony was held in the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Nashville and kicked off with musical performances from Miranda Lambert, Kane Brown, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean with Bryan Adams, a Judds reunion performance, and more 

In case you missed it, here are the winners of this year’s CMT Music Awards: 

• Video of the Year | “If I Didn’t Love You” Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood 
• Female Video of the Year | “If I Was A Cowboy” Miranda Lambert 
• Male Video of the Year | “Til You Can’t” Cody Johnson 
• Group/Duo Video of the Year | “Woman You Got” Maddie & Tae
• Breakthrough Video of the Year | “To Be Loved By You” Parker McCollum 
• CMT Digital-First Performance of the Year | “Dear Rodeo” Cody Johnson 
• CMT Performance of the Year | “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone?” George Strait 
• Trending Comeback Song of the Year | “Love Story” Taylor Swift 

Photo of Kenny Chesney by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for CMT