Tony Awards Ratings: Numbers Are Down for 74th Annual Ceremony

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Tony Awards Tony Awards Ratings: Numbers Are Down for 74th Annual Ceremony CBS saw a dramatic dip in the ratings with its September 26 broadcast of the annual ceremony.

By Andrew Gans

September 27, 2021

Leslie Odom, Jr. and Josh Groban Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions

CBS' Broadway's Back! concert, the second half of the 74th Annual Tony Awards evening that began on Paramount+, was up against a few major events September 26—including NBC's Sunday Night Football (the Green Bay Packers took on the San Francisco 49ers) and Fox's season premiere of The Simpsons—which led to a major dip in the ratings compared to the 73rd annual ceremony.

Read the Reviews for the 74th Annual Tony Awards

Deadline reports that total viewership for the two-hour celebration—hosted by Hamilton Tony winner Leslie Odom, Jr.—was 2.62 million viewers, down over 50 percent from the June 2019 ceremony, which was seen by 5.4 million viewers (already a record low, until now).

Tops for the evening was NBC's football coverage, which drew a 3.8 rating in the 18-49 demo and 13.6 million viewers. The 33rd season premiere of The Simpsons, which was second for the night, had a 1.1 rating in the same demo and was seen by 3.33 million viewers.

Last night was still undoubtedly a win for many of the shows present at Broadway's Winter Garden, including Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which led the pack with 10 total Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Playbill's Complete Coverage of the 74th Annual Tony Awards

Other shows that fared particularly well at the 74th annual ceremony included The Inheritance, A Christmas Carol, and A Soldier's Play.