"The 48th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS" Posts Biggest Audience In 15 Years

LAS VEGAS, April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The 48^th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS led CBS to a Sunday night victory as the night's top program in viewers and demographics with the event's highest measures in viewers since 1998, in households and adults 18-49 since 2001, and in adults 25-54 since 2000, according to Nielsen preliminary live plus same day ratings for April 7.  Sunday night's broadcast also marked the first time that the ACM Awards have beaten the same season's Country Music Awards (CMAs) in these ratings categories since the advent of people meters.

THE ACM AWARDS swept the night in households (9.2/14), viewers (15.38m), adults 25-54 (5.3/12) and adults 18-49 (4.3/11).  THE ACM AWARDS posted its best deliveries in households and adults 18-49 since 2001, in adults 25-54 since 2000 and largest audience since 1998.  Compared to last year's ceremony (on April 1), THE ACM AWARDS was up +16% in households (from 7.9/13), +26% in adults 25-54 (from 4.2/10), +39% in adults 18-49 (from 3.1/08) and added +2.29m viewers (from 13.09m, +17%). 

Compared to "The CMA Awards" on ABC on Nov. 1, THE ACM AWARDS was ahead by +8% in households (from 8.5/13), +13% in both adults 25-54 (from 4.7/11) and adults 18-49 (from 3.8/10), and led by +1.70m viewers (from 13.68m, +12%). 

"Wow," said Bob Romeo, CEO of the Academy of Country Music.  "We knew we had a great plan to get the word out to music fans to watch, but the fact that they embraced us on this level just makes us want to reach higher next year."

THE ACM AWARDS also broke records online and on social media. According to BlueFin Labs today THE ACM AWARDS were #1 in this week's Top 10 Social Shows, with 1.9 million social media comments and 619.4 million impressions – beating out the 2013 NCAA Basketball Tournament, NBA Basketball, MLB Baseball and The Voice, among others.  The number of unique commenters about the Awards telecast this year surged to 613,000+, a record high.

For perspective, in 2011 the Awards garnered 157,000 social media comments, in 2012 it garnered 676,000 – and in 2013, it earned 1.9 million.

Social media mentions around this year's show hit an all-time high, up +285% over last year, according to SocialGuide, and visits to ACM Awards content on CBS.com were up +136% over last year. In addition, more than 1.1 million votes were cast for the Entertainer of the Year and New Artist of the Year categories combined, an increase of +22% over last year's vote.

For the night, CBS was first in households (8.4/14), viewers (13.87m), adults 25-54 (4.5/11) and adults 18-49 (3.6/10) for the sixth consecutive Sunday and the seventh time in eight weeks. 

Updated Sunday ratings will be available tomorrow.

SOURCE Academy of Country Music