CMT Awards take over The Bonnaroo Farm

On Wednesday the CMT Music Awards we’re back! The event was kicked off by Chris Stapleton performing “Arkansas” from The Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester, TN.

The showcase of the newly re-named music venue (formally Great Stage Park) didn’t stop there as the program called for more star power as Dirks Bentley took to a Bonnaroo themed stage with Brothers Osborne.

Wrapping up the night country music superstar Carrie Underwood performed with NEEDTOBREATHE.

With a somewhat return to normal schedule the awards show faired well, however the event typically takes place within the same footprint of the cancelled CMA Fest.

The return to the regular schedule for the awards show still meant a boost in the ratings over 2020’s October COVID event despite the loss of the festival.

Ratings data according to Deadline.com:

Back to live format in their usual spring berth, The 2021 CMT Music Awards drew 828,000 Live+Same Day total viewers on CMT. That was up +10% vs. the 2020 CMT Music Awards, which were delayed until October because of the coronavirus pandemic, with much of the event pre-taped.

Across the six-ViacomCBS network simulcast (CMT, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Paramount Network, TV Land), the P18-34 ratings were up +32% over last year on the same networks (0.58 rating vs. 0.44).

The 2021 CMT Music Awards was the #1 most social non-sports program across all of TV on June 9, according to Social Content Rankings