Believe it or not, two of broadcast TV’s biggest events aren’t even in primetime. They also happen to pretty much bookend the year: ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” opened 2025 with record numbers, while NBC scored another big win last month with the 99th “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”
Kicking off the year by peaking with 29 million viewers at midnight as 2024 turned into 2025, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” continues to be a juggernaut as viewers watch the ball drop in Times Square.
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The telecast has turned into an all-night event, encompassing both primetime and late night elements (and for the 2026 edition, led by guest Diana Ross, will include a Central Time Zone countdown for the first time). But the main portion, of course, is still the 11:30 p.m. ET to 1:09 a.m. telecast. For the Dec. 31, 2024 — Jan. 1, 2025 edition of “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” the special’s Part 1 averaged 17.9 million viewers with a 4.73 rating among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen. Viewership peaked during the midnight quarter-hour, reaching a total of 21.5 million and an 18-49 rating of 5.70.
“New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” continued its reign as the most-watched New Year’s Eve show on television, reaching an audience 2.5 times the size of its closest competition at 11:30, CBS’ “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash.” “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” was easily the No. 1 program of the night, and was ABC’s most-watched entertainment telecast since the 2024 Oscars.
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Here were a few more of the year’s big broadcast TV events:
GOLDEN GLOBES (Jan. 5): The 82nd Golden Globes averaged 10.23 million viewers on CBS, placing the ceremony among the top 100 primetime telecasts of the year for the first time since 2020. The Globers were also up in demos including adults 25-54 (up 5 percent). The event was hosted by Nikki Glaser, who received rave reviews and is set to return for the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026.
GRAMMYS (Feb. 2): This year’s 67th Grammys averaged 16.87 million viewers on CBS, down from 18.1 million viewers in 2024 but still up vs. 13.4 million in 2023 and 10.2 million in 2022. Hosted once again by Trevor Noah, the ceremony focused on fundraising efforts to help support those impacted by the L.A. fires — raising more than $25 million in the process. Variety‘s Chris Willman called it the best Grammys in years in his review of the telecast.
SNL50: THE ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Feb. 16): An average of 16.52 million people caught the three-hour “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” on Feb. 16, making the show second (only behind the Oscars) as the most-watched primetime entertainment event of the year.
OSCARS (March 2): The 97th Oscars, hosted by Conan O’Brien, Back on March 10, an average of 20.99 million people in live+7 watched “Anora” win the best picture prize — up from 20.2 million in 2024, and larger jumps from 19.4 million in 2023 and 17.6 million in 2022.
OPRY 100 (March 19): The event posted an average of 6.32 million viewers on NBC.
AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS (May 26): This year’s American Music Awards on CBS, hosted by Jennifer Lopez, averaged 5.52 million viewers in Nielsen live+7, making it the telecast’s largest performance since 2019. Add in encores on MTV, CMT and BET, and the number reached more than 10 million unique viewers, according to the network. It was also the most-watched entertainment program on Memorial Day since 2001.
TONY AWARDS (June 8) The annual event on CBS averaged 5.69 million viewers.
MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS (Sept. 7) The 2025 edition of the MTV VMAs aired on CBS for the first time, where it averaged 5.64 million viewers. That helped make it the most-watched VMAs in six years.
EMMYS (Sept. 14): The 77th Emmys on CBS averaged 8.16 million in live+7. In the initial live+same day measurement, 7.59 million watched, an 8% increase from the 6.9 million viewers achieved by last year’s ceremony, and the most-watched Emmys since 2021.
“EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL” (Nov. 24): “Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion” on CBS averaged 7.49 million viewers in live+7, making it the most-watched primetime entertainment special this fall.
MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE (Nov. 27): In live+7 data, 99th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade pulled in 26.67 million viewers on NBC and a 6.28 rating in the demo, making it once again the No. 1 special of the year in both measurements.
NATIONAL DOG SHOW (Nov. 27) The annual event posted 12.93 million viewers on NBC.
CHRISTMAS IN ROCKEFELLER PLAZA (Dec. 5) The event on NBC averaged 6.36 million viewers.
Variety parent company PMC owns Dick Clark Prods. in a joint venture with Eldridge.
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