It may have faced considerably less competition, but a gain is still a gain. And the iHeartRadio Music Awards posted gains in adults 18-49 and overall viewership this year.
According to live+same-day data posted by Showbuzz, the 2017 iHeart Awards averaged a combined 1.15 adults 18-49 rating and 2.86 million total viewers across TNT, TBS and TruTV.
While the numbers are hardly spectacular for an awards show featuring some of the biggest names in mainstream music, they markedly top the 0.88 rating and 2.12 million viewership total garnered by last year’s ceremony.
Each of the individual broadcasts was also up over last year’s edition. The TNT version rose from 0.42/0.97 million to 0.57/1.42 million, the TBS version climbed from 0.36/0.90 million to 0.43/1.12 million, and the Tru version increased from 0.10/0.25 million to 0.15/0.32 million.
Astute observers will, of course, note that the comparison is not apples-to-apples.
This year’s show was just over two hours in length; last year’s ceremony aired for three hours.
The entirety of last year’s event faced competition from another music show in the ACM Awards, while the 9:00-10:30 portion was positioned against the season finale of “The Walking Dead.” This year’s show faced a lower-rated “Walking Dead” in its second hour and no opposition from another awards broadcast.
