ABC and American Music Awards Reach All-Time Ratings Low

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So, who watched the ABC American Music Awards Sunday night? Show of hands? Anyone? No one?

Model and actress Gigi Hadid. SNL comedian Jay Pharaoh. Green Day. Selana Gomez. Ariana Grande. All big (or upcoming) names in the entertainment and music industry, with plenty of fans. They all appeared Sunday night at the American Music Awards, which had a noticeable anti-Trump vibe. Jay Pharaoh mocked Donald Trump. Gigi Hadid openly mocked Melania Trump right down to the slanted eyes, puffy lips, and thick accent. Green Day changed the lyrics to Bang Bang, and shouted, “No KKK, No Donald Trump, No Donald Fascist America!” Everyone at the American Music Awards just had one tiny, little problem, which they forgot to address. Very few actually tuned in to watch.

According to zap2it.com, the American Music Awards saw their ratings fall to an “all-time low.” Dick Clark created the show for ABC back in 1973. This year, however, only 8.16 million viewed watched the three-hour broadcast, with a 2.4 rating for adults 18-49. The show, however, had never received such low-ratings in its now 43-year history. This year’s ratings are a 31 percent departure over last year’s show, when the AMAs received a 3.5 rating. The ratings site said,

“It’s the lowest 18-49 rating on record for the awards, whose previous low point was a 3.4 in 2012.”

In Sunday programming, ABC and the American Music Awards came in third place, behind NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which averaged a 14 share, and around 14.42 million viewers, as well as CBS’s NCIS: Los Angeles, 60 Minutes, Madam Secretary, and Elementary. More people watched NCIS: Los Angeles and Madam Secretary than the American Music Awards. In fact, America’s Funniest Home Videos trailed slightly behind the AMAs in total viewership with 6.81 million. Earlier in the evening, however, CBS’s NFL programming took first place, with 19.40 million viewers.

Forbes explains why many people now choose to skip the show.

“In the past few years, many shows like the AMAs that have historically been able to collect millions upon millions of viewers have been faltering, as many decide to tune out and catch up on what they’re missing either the next day, or on social media.

“Many of the performances are available to watch at any point almost immediately after their air—either legally or otherwise—and any shocking, surprisingly or especially noteworthy moments immediately become trending topics on websites like Twitter and Facebook, where everybody can be in the know without having to actually watch”

So, what went wrong with this year’s AMAs? Forbes posits,

“Sadly, while there were plenty of big-name artists at the American Music Awards this year—people like The Weeknd, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Shawn Mendes and Ariana Grande with Nicki Minaj all took to the stage to promote new singles—the three-hour long program seemed to be somewhat lacking when it came to other stars. The A-listers didn’t seem to be there to present, and those that did fell flat when it came time to project the stale dialog onto a tired audience.”