With tributes to Whitney Houston drawing viewers to the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, the broadcast Sunday on CBS drew its biggest audience in decades. The preliminary estimate from Nielsen data is that more than 39 million people watched, the largest Grammy audience since 1984 and the second largest in history.
CBS announced that the broadcast drew an estimated 39.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen live plus same day fast affiliate ratings (8:00-11:30 pm) for Sunday (2/12).
Compared to last year’s event (on 2/13/11), CBS was up +47% in households (from 14.8/25), +48% in adults 25-54 (from 10.8/26), +41% in adults 18-49 (from 10.0/27), +27% in adults 18-34 (from 9.5/28) and added +13.24m viewers (from 26.67m, +50%). The Grammy Awards posted its best deliveries in households and viewers since 1984 (43.88m), its best adults 25-54 delivery since 1988. The Grammys matched its best adults 18-49 delivery since 1990 and its best adults 18-34 performance since 2001.
Over 46 million homes and an estimated 74 million viewers tuned in to all or part of The Grammy Awards, all-time highs for a live Grammy broadcast.
