Logo of the American Music Awards
Despite all the controversy generated by Taylor Swift’s battle with Scooter Braun over performing her old songs at the American Music Awards (AMA), ratings for the event fell 6% from last year, reaching an all-time low.
The event received a Nielson rating of 1.7 among the critical 18-49 demographic, which represents a drop of 6% over last year’s 1.8 rating. The silver lining is that the total audience for the show grew slightly, from 6.5 million viewers last year to 6.7 million this year.
The show’s decline in audience may partially be due to changes in the time that it was broadcast. For many years, it was broadcast on Sunday in the middle or the end of November. But last year it was broadcast in early October on a Tuesday before returning to its usual time this year.
Back in 2017, before the shifting broadcast times, it received a 2.4 rating and more than nine million viewers.
The highlight of this year’s show to many was Taylor Swift. She received an award for Artist of the Decade and then performed a set of hits that she has released over the prior 10 years, including songs that she was initially forbidden to perform. These included:
- “Love Story”
- “Shake It Off”
- “Blank Space”
Swift also won five competitive awards at the ceremony, which were the most of any artist.
This includes:
- Artist of the Year
- Favorite Female Artist – Pop/Rock
- Favorite Album – Pop/Rock (for Lover)
- Favorite Artist – Adult Contemporary
- Favorite Music Video (for “You Need To Calm Down”)
Notably, Swift refrained from directly addressing the situation with Braun during the show. Instead, she stressed the need for artists to make “something that will last.”
Swift now has 28 AMAs in total, breaking Michael Jackson’s record of 24.
Also doing well at the show were BTS and Khalid, who each won 3 awards. Winning two awards was six-time nominee Billie Eilish along with Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay.
Despite garnering a show-high seven nominations, rapper Post Malone only won for Favorite Album – Rap/Hip-Hop (for Hollywood Bleeding).
Taylor Swift is trash.
Britney, Katy, Miley, Taylor, an endless stream of mostly forgettable music but the people keep on buyin it! Where’s the new Pink Floyd?!
Every year, DMN finds new reasons for declining ratings on music awards shows. The ratings are declining because of all the political chatter, rants and jokes. People see it all day and all night on the news. Why do we have to endure that on our favourite awards show? Do a survey – both sides of the aisle…
The show is junk, that’s why. It’s been in decline for over a decade.
Most of us are sick of Taylor Swift and her endless ‘poor me’ antics. They built the show around her, probably promised her awards to get her there, even though her last album was mediocre at best.
Kids go to rock shows on their parents dime: my sisters did. But do they buy music on their own dime? But i guess the real question is, do they watch tv on a Sunday, when they could just watch Taylor Swift videos on the YouTube?
I do wonder if having kids as an audience is good for the wallet in the long run. Cause you need to keep them interested into their adult hood; when they are paying for their own entertainment.