It's crazy to see how much the Tony ratings have declined over the years. This is the way they talked about them in 2003 according to the NYtimes. Now 4.85 million seems good, but that's still a 40% decline from 22 years ago:
"[In 2003] Despite attempts to attract viewers to the Tonys broadcast by using more celebrity presenters, ratings were about the same as last year's record low, according to an early tally by the Nielsen Media Research. It showed that 7.95 million households were tuned in to the show, slightly down from last year's count of 7.98 million. The broadcast has drawn low ratings for many years,"
Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.
Ratings for all awards shows have declined a lot since the turn of the century. It’s not just the Tonys. I am too lazy to look it up, but I suspect the percentage decline for the Academy Awards has been even worse.
binau said: "It's crazy to see how much the Tony ratings have declined over the years. This is the way they talked about them in 2003 according to the NYtimes. Now 4.85 million seems good, but that's still a 40% decline from 22 years ago:
"[In 2003] Despite attempts to attract viewers to the Tonys broadcast by using more celebrity presenters, ratings were about the same as last year's record low, according to an early tally by the Nielsen Media Research. It showed that 7.95 million households were tuned in to the show, slightly down from last year's count of 7.98 million. The broadcast has drawn low ratings for many years,""
What’s crazy is you think the Tonys are the only awards show with declining viewership. And for the record, the Tonys had its highest ratings in years. Doubt any movies, music or TV awards shows can say that.
MB124 said: "ColorTheHours048 said: "Jeremiah said: "Cole Escola being shady towards Nicole backstage and then posing for pics with her after. Safe space indeed huh?"
Uh, what?"
I’m assuming this is in reference to the joke they made in the press room. Nicole won and Sam Pinkleton said “the speculation is over!” and Cole said “four more years.”
It was a ****ing JOKE that has nothing to do with the hat debacle. They wereJOKING, comparing a presidential election to the competitiveness of the Lead Actress category this season.
Not everything is “shade” or some undercover political statement.
My lord…"
And for anyone still on this train of delusion, Escola just posted an Instagram story verifying exactly the above.
It’s beyond silly that they even had to address it.
binau said: "It's crazy to see how much the Tony ratings have declined over the years. This is the way they talked about them in 2003 according to the NYtimes. Now 4.85 million seems good, but that's still a 40% decline from 22 years ago:
"[In 2003] Despite attempts to attract viewers to the Tonys broadcast by using more celebrity presenters, ratings were about the same as last year's record low, according to an early tally by the Nielsen Media Research. It showed that 7.95 million households were tuned in to the show, slightly down from last year's count of 7.98 million. The broadcast has drawn low ratings for many years,""
Ummm... a lot of things change in 22 years. There are many more channel options available as well as streaming services so of course ratings aren't going to be as high as they once were. Nowadays, you have to factor in dvr viewing and viewing on all platforms not just live tv.
I get all of that and that is good context/explanation but it still doesn't change the fact that the Tony awards have declined very much over the years haha. The numbers are the numbers (looking at Oscars, yes they too seem to have declined at similar rates, although I don't think it's as concerning when the absolute numbers are much higher). Looking at this I completely get and appreciate why they have people like Oprah join the broadcast or do a Hamilton reunion to try and make things relevant. If the Tonys lose all meaning in the general population the "Best Musical" award will lose its marketability (I found it a little sad that it didn't seem to have the same effect on the box office on Strange Loop or Kimberly Kimbo as it had done in the past although it's looking like it was just the boost Maybe Happy Ending needed to carry it and now many performances sold in advance etc.).
Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.
Based on YouTube views, the two biggest draws were the Hamilton reunion (first by a mile) and Cynthia Erivo (her opening number and the In Memorium performance both are scoring well).
The downside? Hamilton doesn’t really need the help, and Cynthia Erivo left Broadway a long time ago. But you can bet CBS wants her back if she’s willing.
Jonathan Groff’s and Nicole Scherzinger’s performances also are doing well.
Erivo, however, is doing Dracula in London and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl, so it is not hard to imagine she'll be back on Broadway at some point.
I was so incredible happy for Nicole that I think she heard my scream lol
I love both Nicole and Audra's performance, the ''Hamilton'' cast did the best performance of the night, but my friends all were crazy about Jonathan Groff's performance.
The telecast had the usual sound issues but Erivo was a class act as a host, loved her.
The winners were predictable, but ver worth in most cases, I wish ''Oh, Mary'' had won Best Play tho.
I have to say, looking back, I'm genuinely shocked by how obtuse some people here were about how heavily the Tonys promoted the 10th anniversary performance of Hamilton last year.
It's still arguably the biggest musical of this generation and one of the very few Broadway shows that the general public actually knows. I can personally attest to just how much attention it got, because the moment they announced that the original Broadway cast was going to perform a medley, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and basically every other social media platform I was on completely lost its collective mind.
At the time, I was hanging around a pretty niche Broadway Discord, and I spent basically the entire night before the performance sending out VPN links to people who either didn't have cable or weren't even in the United States so they could watch it. Some people literally joined the Discord solely because they wanted to watch the performance live with us. During the livestream, you could see hundreds of people repeatedly asking when the Hamilton performance was going to happen.
Then the actual performance happened, and the moment Lin and Leslie walked out, the entire audience lost its mind. By the end, they received something like a 30 second standing ovation. That's before even getting into the online reaction, where the Hamilton performance clip on CBS's YouTube channel reportedly passed 3 million views before it was eventually locked behind the streaming service.
There is a very good reason they had multiple Hamilton reunion performances this year. The 10th anniversary celebration clearly demonstrated just how much cultural capital that show still has, even a decade after it premiered.
And honestly, I think that's also why the 2025 Tony Awards blew this year's ceremony out of the water. Last year's show actually felt like a major celebration of Broadway, and the Hamilton reunion was basically the centerpiece of that cultural moment. This year's ceremony just didn't hit for me.
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