The tame and tape-delayed CBS broadcast of the Grammys was short on scandal but long on ratings, drawing the music awards’ biggest TV audience in three years, viewership figures showed on Monday.
The 3 1/2-hour telecast dominated the first Sunday of the February ratings “sweep” with nearly 26.4 million viewers tuning in to see R&B star Beyonce Knowles nab five Grammys and hip-hop duo OutKast win the coveted prize for album of the year, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research.
It was the most watched Grammys telecast — and the highest-rated in key demographics — since the 2001 ceremony, when the best-album award went to jazz-pop veterans Steely Dan in a stunning upset over controversial rapper Eminem.
By comparison, Grammy viewership was up 6 percent from last year’s telecast in overall audience, up 12 percent in adults 18 to 34 years old and up 4 percent in adults 18 to 49.
Sunday night’s presentation of the 46th annual Grammy Awards was broadcast on a five-minute delay instituted by CBS in reaction to the breast-baring halftime performance by Janet Jackson a week earlier during the CBS Super Bowl telecast.
That flash of flesh sparked a public uproar, the prospect of regulatory sanctions for CBS and congressional inquiries into broadcast indecency standards. As it turned out, however, none of the Grammy telecast had to be edited for potentially offensive content, according to the awards show organizers.
Pop idol Justin Timberlake, who was Jackson’s partner in crime during the notorious Super Bowl duet, bowed to a CBS demand that he issue an on-air apology during the Grammys as a condition for appearing on the show as planned. Jackson, who had been scheduled to take part in a Grammy tribute to Luther Vandross, opted out of the event altogether.
While pop siren Christina Aguilera performed her song “Beautiful” in an understated suit and tie, she later accepted her Grammy for best female pop vocal in a pink gown with a plunging neckline, saying, “I don’t want to have the same thing happen that Janet had done.”
Credit: Reuters