58th ACM Awards Sees Significant Year-Over-Year Audience Growth

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Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs at the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards from Ford Center at The Star on May 11, 2023 in Frisco, Texas.

The 58th Academy of Country Music Awards achieved more than 87% year-over-year growth in the 2023 show’s audience compared to 2022.

The show also saw record increases in viewership and interactions across its sites and social media platforms, as well as on Harmony, Penske Media’s proprietary live streaming platform.

Stars Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and Lainey Wilson also saw triple digit streaming increases following their live performances on the ACM Awards stage, according to the Academy. The show was the No. 1 program across all social media platforms for TV & Streaming on May 11 excluding sports, according to Talkwalker, Social Content Ratings.

This year’s ACM Awards amassed 60.6 million video views across the Academy of Country Music’s official Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok from May 11 to May 22, marking a record increase of 94% in year-over-year social media views, according to ListenFirst.

The Official ACM Awards Red Carpet Show garnered 3.2 million live and VOD views in the first 24 hours on Harmony. As of June 2, there are currently more than 7.1 million views across all 18 full show performances on ACM Award performers’ YouTube channels since May 12.

Sheeran and Combs performed “Life Goes On” live together for the first time, premiering a new collaboration version of the song on the ACM Awards stage. There was a 281% increase of total on-demand streams for the song on the day following the show and consistent streams through the weekend (+210%), according to data from Luminate.

Urban’s “Texas Time” was released in April 2018, but his performance of the fan-favorite in honor of the ACM Awards’ return to Texas was followed by a 428% increase in total on-demand streams on the day following the show and consistent streams through the weekend post-show (+337%) according to Luminate. Lambert’s “Carousel,” released in April 2022, saw a 209% increase in total on-demand streams on the day following the ACM Awards and consistent streams through the weekend post-show (+142%).

Wilson’s performance of “Grease” was followed by an increase in total on-demand streams on the day following the show (+221%) and saw an average increase of 206% through the weekend post-show. Also, Jelly Roll and Wilson’s performance of the new duet version of “Save Me” landed at No. 4 on Country Digital Song Sales following the show.

Following one of her biggest performances to date, 58th ACM Awards host Dolly Parton’s “World on Fire,” the lead single from the legend’s upcoming rock album Rockstar, landed at No. 1 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart, as well as No. 3 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart. This marks Parton’s first ever appearance on the Billboard Rock Chart, according to Luminate.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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