Viewership for the live 2025 American Music Awards was down 20% from last year’s anniversary special.
The show, which was hosted by Jennifer Lopez, brought in 4.86 million viewers as it aired live on CBS and streamed on Paramount+ on Monday, May 26, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day viewing figures.
While viewership for the AMAs saw a 38% uptick from its last live broadcast, which aired on Nov. 20, 2022, the ceremony’s audience shrank by 16.92% compared to the 5.85 million average viewers brought in by last year’s 50th anniversary special, which aired on Oct. 6, 2024. The 2024 special, which was two hours rather than the three-hour live special, notably had an NFL doubleheader lead-in.
The 2024 broadcast, which was not aired live, marked a 54% increase from the 2022 ceremony, which scored 3.53 million viewers on ABC.
The 2025 AMAs mark the first live broadcast the show has had since 2022, with CBS airing a 50th anniversary special, titled “American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special,” in October, shortly after the rights for the show changed hands from ABC to CBS.
Despite declining viewership for awards shows, the 2025 AMAs were up double-digit percentages from the 2022 live show, with the 2025 show up 91% among adults 18-34, 23% among adults 18-49 and 16% among adults 25-54.
When compared to recent primetime specials, the 2025 AMAs drew a 39% bigger audience than NBC’s “SNL 50 Years of Music,” which scored 3.49 million viewers in January, and a 52% bigger audience than ABC’s “CMA Fest,” which scored 3.19 million viewers in June 2024.
The show was also buzzy on social media, notably for Lopez’s smooch-filled performance, with the AMAs driving 9.2 billion potential impressions and 816,600 mentions across social media. Social media accounts for the show scored over 100 million video views within the first 24 hours across Instagram, TikTok, X and Facebook, per figures from Listenfirst.
