Ratings skyrocketed with viewership more than doubling from 2022
Country music’s biggest names and more viewers than ever across the nation rang in 2024 with CBS’ New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash.
The show is 2023’s No. 1 country program of the year––followed by the CMA Awards (6.84 m), CMT Awards (5.64 m) as well as CMA Fest (3.65 m), People’s Choice Country Awards (3.90 m), NBC’s Christmas at The Opry (4.44 m), CMA Country Christmas (4.49 m) and CMA Fest: 50 Years of Fan Fair (1.77 m), based on live plus streaming data.
From 7:30-10 pm, Nashville’s Big Bash averaged 8.31 million viewers, more than doubling its primetime audience from 2022. CBS’s first portion of primetime coverage outranked ABC’s first portion of primetime coverage by +18% (versus 7.03 million). This was CBS’s most-watched original entertainment special since The 65th Annual Grammy Awards last February.
New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash was live-streamed on Paramount+ and CBS and was the No. 1 live-streamed entertainment program of the day on the service on both reach and time spent. Live streaming on Paramount+ and CBS TVE was up +100% from last year’s live streaming on an AMA basis. On socials, the show drove over 76.7 million potential social impressions.
In addition to soaring viewership, Nashville saw a spike in in-person attendance at Nashville’s Big Bash as well. An estimated 215,000 fans, 5,000 more than in 2022, gathered at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park to ring in the new year with headliners Thomas Rhett, Lainey Wilson, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, highlighting country and southern rock.
Entertainment Tonight’s Rachel Smith hosted the special along with Grammy-nominated artist Elle King. To celebrate the Eastern time zone’s arrival into the new year, King and Wilson joined Lynyrd Skynyrd on-stage for “Sweet Home Alabama,” marking the first time women have shared lead vocals on the song live.
The night also featured Old Dominion, who performed live from the sold-out New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash official watch party at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville.
The full lineup included performances from Trace Adkins, Grace Bowers, Kane Brown, Jackson Dean, Old Dominion, Hardy, Elle King, Cody Johnson, Parker McCollum, Megan Moroney, Brothers Osborne, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton, Trombone Shorty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson and Bailey Zimmerman, as well as special guest appearances from Tennessee Titan and five-time all-pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and actor/comedian Rob Schneider.
