‘Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back’ Crash To All-Time Low Viewership Of 2.6M
Posted: 9/28/21 at 9:42am
Why should people watch?
Posted: 9/28/21 at 9:50am
I only watched the fantastic first 2 hours on Paramount +, which seems to be the one being raved about for all the obvious reasons. I have recorded on my DVR this CBS broadcast, but not in any rush to watch it based on the comments. I’ll get around to it eventually.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 9:55am
I’m sure there are football fans who are Bway fans too but amongst my friends it seems like the only time we watch football is during superbowl weekend.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 9:57am
Literally nobody went into this expecting any sort of ratings at all.
But it likely will be considered at win:
- it drew subscribers to Paramount Plus
- the reviews were mostly raves, which you rarely see for an awards show
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
Posted: 9/28/21 at 9:59am
Is that metric just the people who watched it on cable, or does it include the (probably) majority of people who watched it on Paramount+? Streaming services usually don't give out hard data on their viewership.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 10:05am
Alex - Doesn't include streaming, where you're right, it'll be where most people likely watched it
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
Posted: 9/28/21 at 10:27am
Two different audiences for this and Sunday night football. But I still think it hurt them. Also, none of the nominated shows had any names and Leslie Odom Jr. isn't a big enough name as a host to draw in random viewers. I'd imagine if the 2022 Tony Awards are back to being held in June, the ratings will go up. I wouldn't be surprised if they try and have Hugh Jackman host them in 2022.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 10:32am
ACL2006 said: "Two different audiences for this and Sunday night football. But I still think it hurt them. Also, none of the nominated shows had any names and Leslie Odom Jr. isn't a big enough name as a host to draw in random viewers. I'd imagine if the 2022 Tony Awards are back to being held in June, the ratings will go up. I wouldn't be surprised if they try and have Hugh Jackman host them in 2022."
If that's the case, I hope he gets a true opening number this time around. I still don't get the point of him bunny-hopping through Radio City in 2014.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 11:09am
Many considerations form a part of the explanation for the (hopefully anomalous) super low ratings. For one thing, obviously, there were less shows nominated and there are less shows running, so there is less to attract attention. The prospect of (yet another) reopening celebration that appeals to folks here is not much of a draw. (People like contests, hence the constant losing battle to sports events.) Another very important factor is that far fewer out of towners are planning trips to NYC in the next 6-12 months than in "normal" years, and Tony viewership has always been significantly augmented by people checking out what to see when they come.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 12:05pm
It's really not. I know many people who love theater and watching all kinds of sports, me being one of them.
It was low rated because it didn't count people who were streaming it, which if you watched the first two hours on their streaming service, you weren't going to switch suddenly at 9pm.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 12:12pm
I mean, it seemed almost actively devised to avoid higher ratings as much as possible. An extremely long, fits-and-starts wind-up, little promotion, a bifurcated event that many seemed to have trouble viewing in its entirety, all for a theater season that is now two years old.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 12:17pm
Sutton Ross said: ""If that's the case"
It's really not. I know many people who love theater and watching all kinds of sports, me being one of them.
It was low rated because it didn't count people who were streaming it, which if you watched the first two hours on their streaming service, you weren't going to switch suddenly at 9pm."
agree about the sports point. Regarding the switch over, as I understand it, only premium Paramount accounts could watch the CBS show on Paramount. Everybody else would have had to switch. It's not clear to me how the audience accounting works for watching broadcast tv on Paramount but in any event it is far to say that the Paramount numbers would not have accounted for the enormous differential.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 12:30pm
ACL2006 said: "Two different audiences for this and Sunday night football."
I know I’m in the minority here, but I skipped the Tonys to watch football. I knew I would be able to watch the Tonys later, but live sports aren’t as fun on replay (unless you’re reliving that one time your team won the Super Bowl and it was glorious - Go Birds! - but I digress).
It was about 60% wanting to watch live football and 40% not having a subscription to Paramount+. And by the time the portion on CBS started, I was already into the game. And what an insane game it was!
Edit: I’ll also say that, while I’m normally very excited about the Tonys, I just wasn’t this year. It was a shortened season with very few shows eligible, most of which I didn’t get a chance to see. And it just feels like several of the nominations wouldn’t have even happened had the full slate of shows opened. If it were up to me, all of these shows would get rolled into this season and the awards would cover the two seasons from 2019 to 2022.
Updated On: 9/28/21 at 12:30 PM
Posted: 9/28/21 at 12:31pm
I mean, it seemed almost actively devised to avoid higher ratings as much as possible. An extremely long, fits-and-starts wind-up, little promotion, a bifurcated event that many seemed to have trouble viewing in its entirety, all for a theater season that is now two years old.
Great points.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 12:35pm
They had quite the nerve to attempt to pull the streaming service nonsense on a year when they had little to nothing to offer
Posted: 9/28/21 at 1:43pm
RunnyBabbit said: "ACL2006 said: "Two different audiences for this and Sunday night football."
I know I’m in the minority here, but I skipped the Tonys to watch football. I knew I would be able to watch the Tonys later, but live sports aren’t as fun onreplay (unless you’re reliving that one time your team won the Super Bowl and it was glorious - Go Birds! -but I digress).
It was about 60% wanting to watch live football and 40% not having a subscription to Paramount+. And by the time the portion on CBS started, I was already into the game. And what an insane game it was!
Edit: I’ll also say that, while I’m normally very excited about the Tonys, I just wasn’t this year. It was a shortened season with very few shows eligible, most of which I didn’t get a chance to see. And it just feels like several of the nominations wouldn’t have even happened had the full slate of shows opened. If it were up to me, all of these shows would get rolled into this season and the awards would cover the two seasons from 2019 to 2022."
I'm with you. For me - deciding between watching the Tony Awards and watching my Green Bay Packers on Sunday night football was basically Sophie's choice on my television. I was recording both and toggled back and forth until I had to stick to the glorious end of that game.
However - I did not watch the early portion of the show on Paramount+. We subscribe to a LOT of cable and streaming services in my house but I wasn't going to add another one (even if I canceled it after a week) just to watch a Tony Awards that was pretty lackluster compared to a typical year. I also think they shot themselves in the foot with this streaming decision - although it was likely CBS's decision - not theirs because it was immediately discouraging older viewers - which - let's face it - is a large portion of their viewing audience (like my 83 year old mother) from jumping through all the hoops in order to watch the actual awards portion of the show. It's a shame that PBS didn't step up to the plate as in past years to broadcast part of the program. Other than those incredible duets - I was not impressed with this year's show - and the "finale" was a joke. I hope they do get Hugh Jackman to host next year because after we see him next June in The Music Man - it would be great to watch him host the show and hopefully pick up another award of his own.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 1:55pm
Lisalemann said: "It's a shame that PBS didn't step up to the plate as in past years to broadcast part of the program."
I agree. PBS is the perfect place if they insist on splitting the show. And while I would like every winner to get their award on the main broadcast, let’s be honest, most people don’t care about the tech awards. They want to see the “big” awards and the performances. And splitting the show to PBS/CBS is miles better than giving awards during the commercials and just announcing it during the broadcast. PBS is already available to nearly everyone without a subscription making it a much better choice than Paramount+.
The year Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick hosted, their bits in the PBS hour still crack me up.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 1:59pm
People what you seem to forget is that the Tony Awards has a CONTRACT with CBS for Broadcast. It's not like PBS can just step in and do what they want....even if the Tonys wanted them to.
Yes, streaming them was a bit weird, especially since viewership on broadcast tv is WAAAY down. But there is no way of us know (at this point) if this is the model they plan to use going forward.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 2:10pm
FYI, folks: Paramount + is CBS ALL ACCESS just renamed. Both services are property of CBS. That’s why the Tony Awards were spread out. 
Posted: 9/28/21 at 2:22pm
dramamama611 said: "People what you seem to forget is that the Tony Awards has a CONTRACT with CBS for Broadcast. It's not like PBS can just step in and do what they want....even if the Tonys wanted them to."
I don’t think anyone is forgetting this. Obviously CBS wanted to try and get more people signed up for its own streaming service. But given that they have worked with PBS before on splitting the broadcast, I think it’s logical to say that it would be a much better option for viewers. Of course it’s not the better option for CBS because money is the most important thing to them, but it’s definitely better for viewers.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 3:09pm
Wick3 said: "From reading the article they made it seem like the same audience who watch Tony Awards also watch weekly Sunday night football.
I’m sure there are football fans who are Bway fans too but amongst my friends it seems like the only time we watch football is during superbowl weekend."
I am a football fanatic AND a theater fanatic... and I live in SF and love the 49ers. Luckily due to the west coast thing and the Tony's delayed broadcast I did not have to make a choice of which one to watch.
As for the CBS broadcast, My opinion was kind of "meh" while watching it and I went to bed at 10pm with my DVR whirring away. I could not stream the Paramount+ ripoff as my DSL internet is like the sloth at the DMV in Zootopia veeeeerrrrrryyyyyy sssslllllooooowwww (it sometimes takes a few minutes to load the BWW site page). UGH
Posted: 9/28/21 at 3:44pm
HogansHero said: "Regarding the switch over, as I understand it, only premium Paramount accounts could watch the CBS show on Paramount. Everybody else would have had to switch. It's not clear to me how the audience accounting works for watching broadcast tv on Paramount but in any event it is far to say that the Paramount numbers would not have accounted for the enormous differential."
It was particularly awkward for those of us on the West Coast. There was no way to stream the CBS show. A VPN wouldn't help because my Paramount+ login is tied to my cable provider account, so they had my location.
It was bad enough that the award show started (without any pre-show or anything) at 4:00 in the afternoon and then abruptly ended at 5:45, with again no filler. It wasn't until over three hours later, that I was able to see the rest of the package on CBS.
It could not have been more awkward.
Updated On: 9/28/21 at 03:44 PM
Posted: 9/28/21 at 5:08pm
By their (bad) luck, next year's Tony Awards will be up against the NBA Finals.
Posted: 9/28/21 at 5:52pm
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