2022 Tony Awards ratings: down 35% from 2019, up 39% from 2021

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:10pm

This is not surprising, but the numbers are starting to come in and they are QUITE bad –– better than last year, predictably, but down 1.7 million from the previous Radio City ceremony hosted by James Corden.

(Yes, TV ratings are much different than they were 5-10 years ago, but this is still notably bad. The Tonys must accept that they will never be a ratings bonanza and its days on CBS may be numbered.)

COMPARISONS:

2022: 3.8 million
2021: 2.7 million
2019: 5.5 million
2018: 6.3 million
2017: 6 million
2016: 8.7 million (HAMILTON/Corden)
2015: 6.4 million

https://variety.com/2022/tv/ratings/tony-awards-ratings-tonys-2022-viewership-1235292423/

Updated On: 6/13/22 at 02:10 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:18pm

MUCH better than I would have thought!

[VotePeron]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:19pm

Welp! The bar literally couldn’t have been lower.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:26pm

Womp womp womp. 

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:28pm

Well, The Emmys cant make much more than 8M, so thats not really that bad

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:35pm

sorry everyone but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It's bad.  

and 60 minutes is a non sports show and averages in the 8 mil range lol and is a direct indication of drop off

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:45pm

A 39% increase is very good. It wasn’t gonna magically jump back to pre-COVID numbers in one year y’all. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 2:48pm

How does the cbs telecast work? Does the league/wing and cbs have a contract through a specific year or is it based on a year by year basis with a new negotiation process every year?

 

[Huss417]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 3:41pm

Call_me_jorge said: "How does the cbs telecast work? Does the league/wing and cbs have a contract through a specific year or is it based on a year by year basis with a new negotiation process every year?

"

From a 2017 Deadline article.

CBS Re-Ups With Broadway’s Tony Awards Through 2026 Under New Deal

https://deadline.com/2017/10/cbs-tony-awards-through-2026-new-deal-1202187002/

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 3:50pm

YvanEhtNioj said: "A 39% increase is very good. It wasn’t gonna magically jump back to pre-COVID numbers in one year y’all."

We can't really compare 2021 and 2022. Last year was a two-hour concert that bestowed three awards, for a season where there was zero momentum because of Covid. So for all intents and purposes, this is a 35% drop from the previous comparable data point.

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 3:59pm

But...last year people were saying "Wow I cant believe it dropped so much". ...so you can use the same logic. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:11pm

I mean the winner -  A Strange Loop - is probably a musical that 99% of America doesn't know and hasn't heard of. And Ariana DeBose is known to us, but I can't imagine most of America knows who she is or would tune in for her. 

[James885]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:12pm

The ratings aren't surprising. The numbers for nearly all award shows have been in the gutter for the last few years. Even before the pandemic the audiences for the Oscars and the Emmys were declining. Not sure why anyone would expect the Tony ratings to be any different. 

[nzagier]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:14pm

ratings shmating ...proof will be in box office  this week  

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 6:15pm

Honestly, even I, someone who is interested in entertainment the awards shows are a slog. 

What they need to do is invite celebs to do like one number from a musical or something. Like I'd love to see a fully stage Kelly Clarkson as Annie Get Your Gun number, or Carrie Underwood or something. That way celebs can do something that isn't a huge time commitment and it's entertaining and would bring in views.

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 6:36pm

I'd be curious to know the streaming numbers on this. Looks like they've only published total viewers for the live CBS broadcast so far so no key demo, streaming, or on demand numbers yet. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 7:47pm

When it comes to Tony ratings, I think of this lyric from Title of Show:

"I'd rather be nine people's favorite things than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing."

It's always been an awards program with a niche audience and ratings for almost all awards programs are on the decline. Let it be produced in a manner to appeal most to people for whom it is their favorite thing.

If a show wants to reach a much larger audience, performing numbers on any of the morning shows or on Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, or Cordon is the ticket.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 8:23pm

"Still, underlining the diminishing returns of broadcast TV, the Tony Awards was the second most watched program last night, only behind its lead-in, a 60 Minutes rerun (5.3 million).

The Lehman Trilogy, Company, A Strange Loop, MJ, and Take Me Out were among the big winners at the 2022 Tony Awards, which delivered its most viewed live-stream ever, up 30% year over year across Paramount + and CBS platforms."

https://deadline.com/2022/06/tony-awards-ratings-2022-cbs-paramount-plus-1235044339/