The CMA Awards bounced back some from last year’s all-time low, drawing about a million more viewers than it did in 2018. The show’s 18-49 rating was slightly behind last year, however, reaching a new low.
The awards also appear to have taken some same-day viewers away from The Masked Singer, which hit a season low on Fox.
The CMA Awards averaged 11.27 million viewers, up about 12 percent from the 10.1 million who watched the 2018 show. ABC’s telecast drew a 2.0 rating in adults 18-49, off a tenth of a point compared with 2018 and a new low for the show. The CMA Awards’ performance mirrors that of a couple other awards shows in 2019: The Grammys and Billboard Music Awards both improved year to year in total viewers while suffering slight declines in the 18-49 demographic.
The Masked Singer fell to same-day season lows of 1.6 in adults 18-49 and 5.55 million viewers opposite the CMAs. The show draws better delayed-viewing numbers than most unscripted series and will make up some of those losses in the coming days. Almost Family‘s first episode in four weeks also drew season lows of 0.5 and 1.67 million viewers.
NBC’s three Chicago shows were largely unaffected by the stiffer competition, with Med (1.1), Fire (1.1) and P.D. (1.0) all matching their 18-49 ratings from last week. Med and Fire did decline a little in total viewers, falling by 9 percent and 7 percent, while P.D.‘s 6.43 million was steady.
A two-hour edition of Survivor had season lows of 1.1 and 6.04 million viewers on CBS. SWAT was steady in adults 18-49 but had a season-low total audience of 3.05 million (it’s a strong performer in delayed viewing). The CW’s Riverdale improved to 0.3 in the demo, and Nancy Drew was flat at 0.2.
ABC’s 2.0 rating in adults 18-49 nearly doubled the 1.1 for second-place Fox. NBC finished third with a 1.0, just ahead of CBS’ 0.9. Telemundo and Univision tied at 0.5. The CW averaged 0.2.
