Lady Gaga, Whitney, Carrie Underwood Draw Peak AMA Ratings

November 23, 2009
By Brian Cantor

At last week’s CMA Awards, it was country diva Carrie Underwood who produced the biggest ratings spike. While Underwood was one of the bigger draws on Sunday’s American Music Awards telecast, her ratings magnet could not compete with that of Lady Gaga.

The dance/pop breakout led the 9:30-10PM half-hour to an impressive 6.3/15 adults 18-49 rating, the largest of the night. With 15.7 million viewers for the segment, the half-hour claimed an advantage over the broadcast’s 5.5/14, 14.2 million viewer average for 8-11PM.

Also performing in that 9:30PM half hour were Mary J. Blige and Jennifer Lopez.

Elsewhere, performances from 9-9:30PM and 10-10:30PM also spiked strong ratings. The 9PM portion, which showcased the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna and Carrie Underwood, drew the second-highest viewer total with 15.5 million (and a 5.9/14 demo rating). The 10PM segment featured Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Eminem and 50 Cent en route to a 6.1 rating with 15.2 million viewers.

During these three periods, the American Music Awards topped NBC’s Sunday Night Football for first place in adults 18-49. The awards telecast ranked second in the other three segments.

Sources: Nielsen Media Research, MediaWeek

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14 Responses to “ Lady Gaga, Whitney, Carrie Underwood Draw Peak AMA Ratings ”

  1. [...] Carrie Fan     Lady Gaga, Whitney, Carrie Underwood Draw Peak AMA Ratings Lady Gaga, Whitney, Carrie Underwood Draw Peak AMA Ratings [...]

  2. okla on November 23, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    We still hope that Carrie Underwood will save her hometown movie theater. I don’t know her personally, but I know that she is a wonderful person.
    http://www.newsok.com/checotah-familys-theater-hopes-turn-sour-with-economy/article/3413557

  3. really on November 23, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    Carrie performed right before Gaga. Do you really think people turned on the TV just as Gaga started performing? I’m pretty sure that it didn’t work that way. If they turned on while gaga was singing, it was by chance. Did they leave a performce order for anyone to check out and know who was performing and when?

  4. Kegan Summers on November 23, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    People did tune in to see Lady GaGa. Why would they do such a thing? It’s LADY GAGA.

  5. Judi on November 23, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    Why is there not a “neither” choice in that poll? Carrie and Taylor both suck. BORING! SNORE!

  6. Tobii Metro on November 23, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    Lady GaGa had the BEST performance.

  7. Luke on November 23, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    Idiots who say the rating spike wasn’t because of Gaga… Take a look at iTunes right now. It’s all facts.

    Gaga – Number one single.
    Gaga – Number one music video
    Gaga – Number one album.

    End of story.

  8. Franc on November 23, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    No offense to “really” but Gaga was mentioned to be performing before one of the breaks. So whoever was tuning in during that time was able to see Carrie perform because they were waiting for Gaga. I love Carrie Underwood, but her performance was okay…it was Gaga who everyone wanted to know what she would come up with for her performance and she did not disappoint. Besides breakthrough award which still baffles me, she ended up on top with three number 1′s today after a stunning performance so the ratings match the post-impact she made.

  9. Alice on November 23, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    Actually, it was Taylor Swift that drew people to the CMA Awards. Many people that didn’t watch before (me & thousands more) watched because of her. I also watched the AMAs to see her win, even though I knew she wouldn’t be there. However, to do the show justice, they did have a lot of high-rollers performing, so I watched because of that too. But certainly didn’t watch the CMAs because of Carrie. Let’s be real, this is Tay’s year, and it’s just the beginning.

  10. andy on November 23, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    This is a fallacy. Ratings on TV go up as the night progresses until 11PM.
    The biggest hour for primetime ratings usally falls between 9pm and 10pm.
    Regardless.

    Gaga didn’t help the ratings for Gossip Girl and that was heavily promoted.
    Fact is AMA ratings got bigger

  11. wdd320 on November 23, 2009 at 9:11 pm

    Ok. Lady Gaga was amazing on the AMAs. Brilliant. I, honestly, have already forgotten about Carrie Underwood’s performance. It was BORING. Gaga brings fashion, art, songwriting abilities, and drama into her performance. She is the definition of an artist. That is why people tuned in.

  12. robot on November 24, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    Well, they might have tuned in for Underwood, but I bet they were sorry they did. She sucked trying to dance, and she looked pretty slutty doing it. What happened to the wholesome girl from Oklahoma?

    S.L.U.T.

  13. sarah on November 26, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    First off, Gaga and Carrie both brought in a large number of people. They both have a large number of followers.
    Any of you who are here arguing who brought in the most, seriously, there would be no way to know. So stop trying.

  14. John on December 9, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    Amen Sarah! I would never listen to or tune into anything for Carrie…not into her music at all. If they were both in the same genre of music than we’d have a battle. But they aren’t.

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