Grammys Settle for 25 Million Viewers, a Seven-Year Low

Awards show pulled in just 300,000 more audience members last year

Taylor Swift and Grammys Logo

The Grammys grabbed 25 million total viewers last night — a lot, but still a seven-year low for the popular awards show. That sum was good enough to make it the biggest entertainment program (Read: Not NFL football) of the current TV season to-date.

In the key demographic, the Grammys averaged a 7.7 among adults 18-49. Read about the President’s Day special’s earlier household ratings here. The fast national numbers are available here.

Last year’s “Biggest Night in Music” ended up averaging 25.3 million total viewers — a six-year low at the time. In the main demo, last year’s Grammys got an 8.5 rating.

Monday marked the first year the Grammys have been available live on both coasts, an effort to boost tune-in on the left side of the country.

Of course, the LL Cool J-hosted awards show was available beyond traditional linear means, and CBS All Access had its highest day ever for both time spent live-streaming and unique users, up 247 percent and 192 percent respectively, over last year’s Grammys.

Additionally, All Access yesterday recorded its highest sign-up day in the history of the service. The Grammys also drove record traffic to CBS.com and the CBS app.

“Last year marked the first livestream of the Grammy Awards on digital platforms and we saw a tremendous response from audiences,” said Marc DeBevoise, executive vice president and general manager of CBS Digital Media for CBS Interactive. “This year we offered the live stream to consumers in even more markets and across more devices than ever before, and music fans responded in a big way, breaking records for the service across every metric.”

After the trophies were all handed out, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” pulled in 3.5 million total viewers, per Nielsen’s TV measurement.

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