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Note: This story has been updated with live-plus-same-day national ratings.
The 2025 Tony Awards saw a substantial uptick in viewership from last year. Broadway’s biggest night was viewed by 44% more viewers this year compared to last.
Sunday night’s ceremony, which broadcast live from New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on CBS and streamed on Paramount+, brought in 5.10 million viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day viewing figures. That’s up from the 2024 Tonys, which scored a viewership of 3.53 million on CBS, which coincided with Father’s Day last year. That’s also the biggest viewership the Tonys have seen since 2019.
This uptick corrects a trend of Tonys viewership consistently decreasing over the past several years. Viewership for the 2024 show saw a 14.8% decrease from the 4.12 million viewers brought in by the 2023 telecast, which was just below the 4.22 million viewers seen by the 2022 show.
Like most all major awards shows, Tonys viewership was hit hard by the pandemic with the 2021 hybrid telecast bringing in 2.6 million viewers, less than half of the audience the show brought in in 2019 when the Tonys scored 5.4 million viewers. The show likewise scored 6.3 million viewers in 2018 and 6 million viewers in 2017.
Viewership this year was also up across three key demographics. Specifically, it increased 99% when it came to viewers aged 25 to 54 years old, 116% for viewers aged 18 to 49 years old, and 157% for viewers aged 18 to 34 years old. Those year-over-year gains were the best the awards show has seen since 2018.
The Tonys also saw its largest streaming audience of all time on Paramount+. Streaming was up 208% year over year. Additionally, engagement on social media hit a three-year high, hitting 5.2 billion potential impressions, according to data calculated by Quid Monitor. That’s a 55% lift compared to 2024’s potential impressions. The awards show also secured 161,900 mentions, a 75% lift compared to last year.
Broadway royalty Cynthia Erivo hosted the 2025 Tonys, which saw the Darren Criss-led “Maybe Happy Ending” score six awards, including Best Musical and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. As for “Buena Vista Social Club,” that production scored four wins, including Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Natalie Venetia Belcon.
Other highlights of the night included Cole Escola becoming the first non-binary performer to win an acting category for “Oh, Mary!,” Sarah Snook winning for “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and Nicole Scherzinger earning her win for “Sunset Blvd.”
