2024 Grammys win relatively good ratings

Could the awards show be making a comeback? After years of steady ratings decline for ceremonies of all genres, things appear to be trending upwards. The Golden Globes, for instance, saw a 50% increase in viewership for the 2024 show, and that’s in spite of the fact that host Jo Koy bombed so hard that many of us were tempted to turn off the television altogether. Now music’s biggest night has followed in the Globes’ footsteps: per Variety, the Grammy Awards drew in 16.9 million viewers, a 34% increase from the previous year.

This is the most-watched Grammys broadcast since 2020, after which COVID severely impacted… well, everything, but awards viewership specifically. Variety reports that E! Network’s pre-and post-show coverage (E! Grammys Live From the Red Carpet, E! Countdown to the Red Carpet, E! After Party) all had their biggest viewership since 2020, so people were all around jonesing for some Grammys content.

What was the biggest draw of the night? We can never discount the Taylor Swift Effect, which has accounted for big ratings boosts elsewhere on television. (Swift, who won a historic fourth Album of the Year award, was also at the Golden Globes, so make of that what you will.) However, there was also an enticing collection of older music legends on the roster of performers: Billy Joel, Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, and Tracy Chapman. According to Variety, the most-watched portion of the show (with 18.3 million viewers) occurred at 9:45 pm, in which Lennox, Wonder, Jon Batiste and Fantasia Barrino performed for the In Memoriam.

Though many stars walked away with trophies, the big winner of the night was undoubtedly Paramount+, which experienced 173% more streams for the ceremony than 2023 and logged its most-watched Grammys broadcast ever. CBS and Paramount+ also became the home for the successful Golden Globes this year, so the company is overall doing pretty well with the awards show business.