Tony Awards Viewership Falls for Second Year in a Row

Early viewership figures for the 77th Tony Awards, hosted by hosted by Ariana DeBose, are down compared to previous years. The CBS telecast of the June 16 event drew 3.51 million viewers—including out-of-home viewers—according to Nielsen’s fast national ratings. The data does not include viewers on the Paramount+ platform.

The figure is down 14.8% from the 2023 awards, which drew 4.12 million viewers. The figure also compares poorly to that of the 2022 awards, which drew 4.22 million viewers, but favorably to the 2021 hybrid telecast of the Tonys, which drew only 2.6 million viewers.

Pre-pandemic, viewership of the Tonys reached 5.4 million viewers in 2019 and 6.3 million viewers in 2017. The 1997 broadcast drew in the highest viewership ever for the Tony Awards, with 9.8 million viewers.

The ceremony was broadcast live from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Takeaways from the ceremony include David Adjmi’s rock-and-roll drama Stereophonic earning five trophies including Best Play; The Outsiders winning a four awards including Best Musical; and Merrily We Roll Along winning the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical; and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' family drama Appropriate winning the Tony for Best Revival of a Play. Read the full list of winners here.