56th Academy of Country Music Awards™ Hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton Dominates in Viewers, Key Demos and Socials CBS Beats Combined Competition in Viewers and Handily Wins Night Available to Stream on Paramount+, Details at “How to Watch”
56th Academy of Country Music Awards™ hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton dominates in viewers, key demos and socials
CBS beats combined competition in viewers and handily wins night
Available to stream on Paramount+, details at “how to watch” highlights from the night available here
Performances available here
LOS ANGELES, CA – For the second consecutive year, the 56th ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™ dominated the night, with 6.08 million viewers. The Awards also won its time period in key demos (1.2 in adults 25-54 and 0.8 in adults 18-49) finishing first in viewers by +9% over its COMBINED competition (6.61m versus 6.04m). Out of home is not accounted for in these ratings. Data are considered preliminary and will change.
On social media, the show led as #1 trending on Twitter and drove more than 9.7B potential impressions. The 2021 Awards were the most social ACM Awards of the last few years, beating the 2020 ACM Awards (4.1B) last September and the 2019 ACM Awards (3.8B) on April 7, 2019. Last night, the ACM Awards trended within the top 10 in the US on Twitter – #ACMAwards trended for 9 hours and peaked at #1 (SOURCE: Netbase). The Awards had 6 of the top 30 trending topics on Twitter.
The ACM Awards featured 25 performances, from six iconic Nashville music venues including Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, The Bluebird Cafe, Broadway, Riverfront and Station Innan unprecedented number of world premiere performances, including Elle King and Miranda Lambert opening the show with “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” Dierks Bentley performing U2’s poignant classic “Pride (In The Name of Love)” with husband and wife duo The War and Treaty, Brothers Osborne (“I’m Not For Everyone” and “Dead Man’s Curve”), Kenny Chesney (“Knowing You”), Eric Church (“Bunch Of Nothing”), Luke Combs (“Forever After All”), Dan + Shay (“Glad You Exist”), Mickey Guyton (“Hold On”), Alan Jackson with “You’ll Always Be My Baby” and a special mashup for “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” Miranda Lambert with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall (“In His Arms”), Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd (“Chasing After You”), Thomas Rhett premiering “What’s Your Country Song” and “Country Again,” Blake Shelton celebrating the 20th Anniversary of his first hit single “Austin” as well as “Minimum Wage,” Chris Stapleton with Miranda Lambert (“Maggie’s Song”), and Chris Young and Kane Brown (“Famous Friends”). In all, the show included 31 performers, plus presenters including Blanco Brown, Leslie Jordan, Dolly Parton, and Darius Rucker, among others.
“We could not be more proud of this year’s ACM Awards show and its overall performance in this highly competitive TV landscape. The huge digital successes illustrate the fan engagement around Country Music and the ACM brand. Thank you to our incredible artists for sharing the heart and soul of Country Music with the world!” said Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music.
The 56TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™ are available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+, learn more at CBS: https://bit.ly/3amj6eV. Performances from the show are available at https://bit.ly/32sHTJU.
According to Rolling Stone, “2021 ACM Awards Found Ways to Be Inclusive and Offered a Glimpse of Country’s Future.” Full Rolling Stone coverage available here: https://bit.ly/3n2aUFO.
Additionally, the Official 56th ACM Awards Playlist: Stream for a Cause initiative befitting the ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund, created in early April 2020 to assist individuals working in the Country music industry who are suffering a financial crisis as a result of the pandemic. The Stream for a Cause promotion is live through today at the Official 56th ACM Awards Playlist, available on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal and YouTube Music. Labels including Big Machine Label Group, Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group will also take part in supporting this cause.
About the Academy of Country Music Awards™
The 56th Academy of Country Music Awards™ is dedicated to honoring and showcasing the biggest names and emerging talent in the Country Music industry. The show is produced for television by dick clark productions and will broadcast LIVE on Sunday, April 18, 2021 (8:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network, and will also be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. R.A. Clark, Barry Adelman and Linda Gierahn are executive producers. Damon Whiteside is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music.
Photo credit: ACM hosts Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton at the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards (courtesy Academy of Country Music/Getty Images)
Courtesy of ACM