Why CBS Lost The Grammys
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Why CBS Lost The Grammys
CBS and The Grammys were an institution. They’re like the diner in your hometown that’s been open since the 1970s. The annual show’s hosts often rotated among CBS talent. Over time, the iconic gramophone felt like part of the CBS logo itself. But much like your old hometown diner, the new generation wanted something new. It was time to make a change.
In 2027, music’s biggest night will move to a simulcast on ABC, Disney+, and Hulu for a ten-year deal that runs through 2036.
According to Deadline, CBS had an exclusive negotiation window with The Recording Academy but couldn’t agree to a deal, which then opened the rights up for bidding.
It’s another tough break for CBS and its parent company, Paramount Global. The drama surrounding the company’s chairwoman Shari Redstone’s never-ending sale process for the media conglomerate is worthy of a Succession plot line. Paramount Global recently laid off 15% of its workforce and took a $6 billion write-down on its cable networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central.
In recent years, CBS has lost its media rights for SEC college football. CBS has no rights to the NBA, MLB, or NHL. It now has March Madness, the Golden Globes, and The Masters, which had a 20% decline in viewership in April 2024. Lately, the real “tradition unlike any other” is CBS losing its programs.
The Grammys 2024 viewership jumped 36% from the previous year to 17.09 million. It outperformed this year’s Oscars among 18 - 49 year olds. The strong ratings likely helped raise the show’s ad rates, but CBS will only benefit in the short term. The boost likely helped The Recording Academy even more, since Disney will pay more than $500 million over its ten year contract for the broadcast rights. It’s an upgrade over the current deal with CBS, which started at $20 million annually in 2016.
Among broadcast networks, the shift from CBS to ABC itself seems negligible. They’re both legacy distribution channels for the nonprofit Recording Academy to offer free access to the show. The Grammys broadcast rights would likely never be exclusive to a pure streaming service. This isn’t a WWE and Netflix situation.
Paramount Global also lacked the streaming and global reach to grow the Grammys. Disney+ is the second-largest streaming network after Netflix and has a large global footprint. Hulu is still quite popular and has zeitgeist-y, award-winning shows like The Bear and Shogun. Frankly, the Recording Academy got a better deal with Disney than the Motion Picture Academy does since the Oscars deal doesn’t include the simulcast to Disney’s streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, CBS’ parent company has… Paramount+. With 71 million subscribers largely from the U.S, it’s a distant competitor in the streaming wars.
Let’s be real, when was the last time you had a conversation about a series on Paramount+? I’ve yet to get a text from a friend that said, “Hey you gotta check out this new show that’s on Paramount.” For millions of its subscribers, Paramount+ is likely most valuable as a cord-cutting option to watch AFC games on Sunday at 1 pm ET during NFL season.
The Recording Academy under CEO Harvey Mason, Jr hasn’t been shy about changes. They’ve added around 8,700 new voting members since 2019. The new voters are younger and more racially diverse than before. That also means a similar amount of voters who were older and likely whiter, have been removed.
Award shows struggles in the streaming era have been well-documented. On one hand, the decline in viewership was inevitable. Ratings peaked in a world where social media couldn’t share the results instantly and there was less competition for our attention. But outside of the major football games, the Oscars and Grammys maintain the strongest ratings. Even though these award shows have half of their peak 2010s audience, they’ve declined less sharply than the prime time sitcoms and dramas.
The Grammys on Disney won’t solve all those problems. There’s a generation of young viewers that aren’t on Disney+ and Hulu either. But it’s better than the alternative.
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