NEW YORK (AP) – After two years of record low ratings, the Country Music Association Awards rebounded last week and was the most-watched entertainment program on television last week.
Hoist a glass to the appeal of country music? Not so fast. The size of last year’s audience was depressed since it aired on the same night of an epic World Series seventh game between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.
This year, the competition was much more manageable. The awards reached 14.3 million people last week for ABC, compared to 12.5 million the year before, the Nielsen company said.
NBC won the week’s ratings race on the strength of two football games. Sunday night’s game between New England and Denver was the week’s most popular program, Nielsen said.
CBS had eight of the week’s top nine most-watched scripted programs, with only NBC’s “This is Us” breaking the stranglehold.