The move to Sunday three years ago helped the Academy of Country Music Awards arrest the long term viewership decline endemic to most awards shows. 2009's telecast had the highest average viewership in a decade. 2010's slipped back a bit, but was still well above the last decade's lows.
I don't follow country music at all, so my wild guess wouldn't be worth the bits to send it to you, but I'm sure plenty of other folks can take a much better guess.
What do you think the viewership will average tonight?
TV Ratings for the Academy of Country Music Awards, 1979-2010:
| Household | # of | # of | |||||
| Day | Date | Time | Net | rating | Share | HHlds | Viewers |
| SUN | 4/18/2010* | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 7.8 | 13 | 13,500,000 | |
| SUN | 4/5/2009* | 8:00PM-11:03PM | CBS | 8.8 | 14 | 10,031,000 | 14,777,000 |
| SUN | 5/18/2008* | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 7.3 | 12 | 8,281,000 | 11,731,000 |
| TUE | 5/15/2007* | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 6.1 | 10 | 6,793,000 | 9,275,000 |
| TUE | 5/23/2006* | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 7.6 | 12 | 8,348,000 | 12,016,000 |
| TUE | 5/17/05 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 7.7 | 12 | 8,477,000 | 11,950,000 |
| WED | 5/26/04 | 8:00PM-11:08PM | CBS | 7.2 | 12 | 7,838,000 | 11,589,000 |
| WED | 5/21/03 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 7.8 | 12 | 8,278,000 | 12,080,000 |
| WED | 5/22/02 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 8.6 | 14 | 9,081,000 | 13,332,000 |
| WED | 5/9/01 | 8:00PM-11:01PM | CBS | 9.4 | 15 | 9,625,000 | 13,864,000 |
| WED | 5/3/00 | 8:00PM-11:02PM | CBS | 9.7 | 16 | 9,815,000 | 14,126,000 |
| WED | 5/5/99 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 10 | 16 | 9,935,000 | 14,797,000 |
| WED | 4/22/98 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | CBS | 12.1 | 20 | 11,882,000 | 17,272,000 |
| WED | 4/23/97 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 13.1 | 22 | 12,662,000 | 20,097,000 |
| WED | 4/24/96 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 12 | 21 | 11,510,000 | 17,625,000 |
| WED | 5/10/95 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 11.6 | 19 | 11,066,000 | 17,770,000 |
| TUE | 5/3/94 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 13.4 | 21 | 12,623,000 | 19,901,000 |
| TUE | 5/11/93 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 14.3 | 23 | 13,313,000 | 21,579,000 |
| WED | 4/29/92 | 9:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 15.9 | 25 | 14,644,000 | 24,047,000 |
| WED | 4/24/91 | 9:00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 15.6 | 26 | 14,520,000 | 23,435,280 |
| WED | 4/25/90 | 9:00PM-11:02PM | NBC | 14.4 | 24 | 13,260,000 | 21,653,580 |
| MON | 4/10/89 | 9:00PM-11:32PM | NBC | 16.4 | 26 | 14,830,000 | 24,677,120 |
| MON | 3/21/88 | 9:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 15.9 | 25 | 14,090,000 | 24,178,440 |
| MON | 4/6/87 | 9:00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 18.6 | 28 | 16,260,000 | 27,268,020 |
| MON | 4/14/86 | 9:51PM-11:52PM | NBC | 15.1 | 26 | 12,970,000 | 17,260,000 |
| MON | 5/6/85 | 9:00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 17.2 | 27 | 14,600,000 | 26,820,000 |
| MON | 5/14/84 | 9:00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 18.5 | 30 | 15,500,000 | 25,606,000 |
| MON | 5/9/83 | 9:00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 19.2 | 29 | 15,990,000 | 29,229,720 |
| THU | 4/29/82 | 9:32PM-11:32PM | NBC | 17 | 29 | 13,860,000 | 23,367,960 |
| THU | 4/30/81 | 9:00PM-11:02PM | NBC | 18.8 | 31 | 14,630,000 | 23,773,750 |
| THU | 5/1/80 | 9:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 21.6 | 36 | 16,480,000 | 30,900,000 |
| WED | 5/2/79 | 9:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 20 | 32 | 14,900,000 | 28,965,600 |
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Source: NTI Pocketpieces, Nielsen Audience Composition Reports and Nielsen Galaxy Explorer
First nationally televised Academy of Country Music Awards was 1965.
Copyright 2010 The Nielsen Company
* Live +Same Day DVR viewing, all other years are Live viewing only.
To attempt to forestall the inevitable commenter question, yes, we know that adults 18-49 ratings are all that matters for broadcast primetime ad pricing, but like most historical ratings data we have, viewership, households and household ratings is all we have.
