The Grammy Awards bounced back with a 30% increase in viewership, marking the largest audience since 2020.
According to Deadline, Sunday's telecast of the 65th annual ceremony delivered 12.4 million viewers across the CBS broadcast and digital platforms, a notable boost from last year, which brought in 8.93 million.
Most major awards shows took a hit after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Grammys was one of the first to hold an in-person live TV event in 2021, but it was a scaled-down affair with no audience and became the show's least watched.
While this year's telecast had an uptick in viewership, it was still fairly small compared to previous years: 18.7 million people tuned in in 2020, while 19.9 million watched in 2019.
The 2022 Oscars saw its second-lowest viewership ever at 16.6 million, which was still a notable increase from the previous year's record-low of 9.85 million. It has been speculated that the rating recovery may have been linked to the altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock.
Smith assaulted Rock at the ceremony after a joke was made about the closely shaved head of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia. At the time, Smith said the joke was "too much for me to bear" and that he "reacted emotionally."
Months later, Smith posted a video on YouTube apologizing to Rock, saying, "I'm here whenever you're ready to talk."
"I was out of line, and I was wrong," Smith, who resigned from the Academy and was banned from attending ceremonies for 10 years, said in the video. "I am embarrassed, and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness."
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.