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A live performance from Billie Eilish, who had the most 2025 American Music Awards wins of any artist. Photo Credit: Raph_PH
Award shows aren’t dead yet: Beginning with next year’s broadcast, the American Music Awards (AMAs) are set to air live on CBS and Paramount+ through 2030.
Dick Clark Productions and CBS announced the underlying half-decade extension today, after the American Music Awards debuted on the network in May. The 2025 edition marked the AMAs’ first installment since departing ABC in 2022 and reportedly reached north of 10 million unique viewers.
(This audience resulted from the main CBS premiere as well as “encore” reruns on MTV, CMT, and BET; billed as “the show’s largest audience since 2019,” the CBS viewership is said to represent a 38% spike from 2022.)
Looking to keep the ratings momentum going, CBS has opted to book the 2026 AMAs for the same month (May, and specifically on or around Memorial Day) and location (Las Vegas) as the 2025 outing.
Though the five-year pact is an encouraging sign for award shows, it’ll be worth monitoring the AMAs’ audience-size particulars moving forward.
As many know, in general, said shows have been grappling with ratings turbulence for years now. On one hand, the 2025 Grammys, likewise airing on CBS, suffered a 9% viewership decline (to 15.4 million watchers) from 2024. On the other hand, excepting 2024, that was the show’s largest audience since 2020 delivered 18.7 million viewers.
For additional context, the recent completion of an $8 billion merger between the overarching Paramount Global and Skydance Media should be reiterated. So should Paramount’s relative dealmaking tear – referring first to a seven-year, $7.7 billion rights tie-up with the UFC.
And today, reports indicated that Paramount had managed to sign the Duffer Brothers – the creators of Netflix’s Stranger Things – to an undoubtedly expensive four-year exclusive agreement covering film, TV, and streaming projects alike.
Bringing the focus back to the American Music Awards, Adweek pointed to award shows’ perceived ability to help brands remain culturally relevant. Moreover, citing comments from execs, the outlet also noted the comparatively favorable positioning of award-programming ratings amid traditional TV’s consumption falloff.
According to Nielsen, streaming made up over 47% of total U.S. TV viewing in July. That includes a combined consumption share in excess of 22% for YouTube (excluding YouTube TV) and Netflix, per the resource.
