Ratings Fall for CMT’s All Woman ‘Artists of the Year’ Presentation
Last Wednesday evening (10-17) saw a historic event take place on CMT as the network’s annual Artists of the Year event featured all women honorees and (mostly) women performers for the first time. Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, and Maren Morris were celebrated, as well as Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town, and Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum. Other artists such as Brandi Carlile, Alison Krauss, Sheryl Crow, and the Pistol Annies performed, and Loretta Lynn was given a special tribute, despite not being able to attend due to illness.
CMT’s Artist of the Year is not an awards show per se, it’s more a special presentation aired annually to highlight the most accomplished country music artists in a given year in CMT’s estimation. With the concern over the lack of representation of women in country music lately, as well as the #MeToo movement, featuring the top women of country seemed like the right call for 2018.
Many memorable moments took place on the evening, including Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman singing with soul legend Gladys Knight on a medley of songs, and Maren Morris and Brandi Carlile performing a tribute to Aretha Franklin. Possibly the moment with the most impact occurred when Karen Fairchild whipped out her phone during her acceptance speech and read off the names of 30+ female artists she believed radio should be playing, many of whom are signed to major labels, but also some independent stars such as Margo Price.
It was a night to honor the women of country music, rally support behind them, and remember the legacy of many of the women who have come before. The problem is, very few people witnessed it.
Ratings for the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year were poor to put it mildly. The program pulled a 0.09 rating with viewers 18 to 49 according to ShowBuzzDaily. That put it in 103rd Place on cable Wednesday evening. This is compared to 2017 when the CMT Artists of the Year presentation pulled a 0.2 share, coming in at #55 in the cable ratings. That means the viewership in 2018 was cut by just over half.
It’s also important to note that 2017’s numbers were the highest in history for the event, and the 2017 presentation came shortly after the Route 91 Harvest massacre, which became the focal point for the event. In 2017, no women were featured on CMT’s Artists of the Year presentation. The 2017 class was
Leslie Fram—the Senior Vice President of Music Strategy at CMT, and one of the leaders of the effort to bring more women into the mainstream country music fold—deserves credit for putting on a memorable and important event. Ratings are not everything, and CMT must have known they were taking a risk with the all woman presentation. But the numbers do illustrate the continued dilemma country music faces to create appeal around the women of the genre when they’re not finding support from radio or tours to help build name recognition or awareness.
Country music’s next major event is the 52nd Annual CMA Awards on November 14th on ABC.
October 22, 2018 @ 8:36 am
Wonder what were the ratings for the 2 MLB playoff games that same night? A man’s gotta have his priorities.
October 22, 2018 @ 9:42 am
Well that’s dissapointing. I enjoyed a lot of the performances. Kelsea Ballerini And Alison Krauss were really good.
Best part of the night people on social media discovering the awesome woman in the suit Brandi Carlile.
Worst part Pistol Annies opening a the show meant to show people that women aren’t just tomatoes with a tone deaf song about Sugar Daddies. How was there not enough common sense among the 3 of them to pick something more appropriate?
October 22, 2018 @ 1:54 pm
This is why I can’t stand comment sections. It’s just filled with people looking for something to complain about. Literally nobody besides you would think that the Pistol Annies song is tone deaf. It’s just a fucking song.
October 22, 2018 @ 2:32 pm
Women are up on stage giving eloquent speeches about the worth of women and how they deserve respect and not be seen as lesser and here come the Pistol Annies with give me some sugar daddy.
You’re right it is a fucking song.
October 22, 2018 @ 3:13 pm
Wow, i can’t believe that women aren’t cemented into a monolithic groupthink and actually have a spectrum of thoughts, feelings, and ideals. Ugh, JUST like a woman, am i right?
October 22, 2018 @ 3:38 pm
Imagine the main topic of discussion in country music and of the event itself, women being tired of being marginalized. Or the discussion about women having to sex themselves up on radio tours, smile and be friendly to PDs then you have three women opening up the show with a song about their sugar daddies.
I’m not saying it’s a bad song and they can’t sing it. It was however a bad song for that event, especially an event where people brought their young daughters and the message is if you want fancy things get yourself a sugar daddy.
October 22, 2018 @ 4:57 pm
Maybe they were three women sticking it to the man by saying “We’re gonna sing whatever the hell we want and dont care about your stupid agenda here tonight”. Or if you really think about it, what’s more ‘feminist’ than a woman taking advantage of a man and getting anything she wants?
October 22, 2018 @ 5:19 pm
How is prostituting yourself for a diamond ring feminist?
October 22, 2018 @ 6:47 pm
If that’s what a woman wants to do, who are you to tell her its wrong?
October 22, 2018 @ 7:02 pm
Who are you to tell me what I believe is wrong?
October 22, 2018 @ 7:23 pm
Prostitution is ok for Head Case The Calvinist, but homosexuality isn’t. I’m lovin’ it.
October 23, 2018 @ 4:30 am
I’m just trying to see it your way got once. You want women’s rights and it’s a woman’s body and she should be allowed to do whatever she wants. But now you’re saying something different.
October 23, 2018 @ 7:31 am
Saying they picked a tone deaf song for that particular event has nothing to do with regulating women’s bodies.
If you want to make comparisons this would be Luke Bryan singing Country Girl Shake It For Me at Loretta Lynn’s funeral. A fine song for the shows he puts on but not a good choice for the actual event.
October 23, 2018 @ 8:08 am
Im sorry I thought you were the one who brought up that they were singing about prostituting themselves. You must have meant something completely different by using those exact words. My bad.
October 23, 2018 @ 8:16 am
Do you not know what the relationship between a woman and a Sugar Daddy is?
Since you’re trying hard to miss the point I’ll explain it again, they can sing Sugar Daddy as much as they like but I still don’t think a song about a woman having sex with men for money and jewelry is a good choice for an event that was specifically put on to showcase women as more than just ornaments in country radio.
October 23, 2018 @ 8:47 am
And I’ll explain my origin comment again.
Maybe they were three women sticking it to the man by saying “We’re gonna sing whatever the hell we want and dont care about your stupid agenda here tonight”. Or if you really think about it, what’s more ‘feminist’ than a woman taking advantage of a man and getting anything she wants?
October 23, 2018 @ 9:50 am
Taking advantage of a men isn’t feminism. That’s the opposite of feminism and so is your idea that a night celebrating women is somehow sticking it to the man. Being treated as an equal doesn’t mean making men lesser, it’s building up both sexes.
You’re using feminism which you have no idea about as defense for 3 women making a bad song choice and offending feminists and the spirit of what the entire night was about.
Be honest at least as just come out and At you’re a Pistol Annies fan and liked the song.
October 22, 2018 @ 4:08 pm
TxMusic is a Miranda hater. Pay her no mind. Everything Miranda does or says is wrong in her opinion.
October 22, 2018 @ 5:23 pm
An amazingly well thought out rebuttal. Almost as great as opening a show with Sugar Daddy.
October 22, 2018 @ 4:40 pm
I’m not TX music fan, and I think opening a show celebrating women with a not good song sung off key about scamming men out of material things is a bad look. Not surprising coming from Miranda who seems to get off on that. I’d much rather hear from Maren and Carrie who actually have made pretty thoughtful comments about women in country music. Karen’s speech was good too.
October 22, 2018 @ 5:40 pm
L—-I’d rather hear from Miranda about anything in Country music. They have never mentioned Independent Artists as she does. She has also far been the biggest fighter of women’s equality in Country Music.
October 22, 2018 @ 9:46 am
I thought it was one of CMT’s best programming efforts in years. CMT is very focused on promoting the current and up and coming acts with their mission to change the conversation….it would be nice to see them spotlighting some of the acts that are still playing to packed venues and recording some of the best music of their careers…all on their own terms…acts like Kathy Mattea, Lee Ann Womack, Pam Tillis, Suzy Bogguss, Mary Chapin Carpenter etc. Superstar acts like Shania Twain and Faith Hill were both covered during the show….and that’s great…but my hope is that the other females who dominated radio in the 90s are remembered as more than a 90s act….they provided and are still providing some of the best material out there.
October 22, 2018 @ 4:37 pm
Exactly. Or the next generation that still needs help ( basically excluding Carrie and Miranda, I guess) and adding Carly, Danielle, etc.
October 22, 2018 @ 11:01 pm
If they aren’t affiliated with a major label and just working as indie artists , they will NEVER get the attention of these shows . The big labels use these shows to promote their current stable of acts , for the most-part .
October 22, 2018 @ 9:52 am
Nice lineup of performers. A few observations.
Not taking anything away from the queen of soul but frankly, that’s not country music. Spend the alloted time filling the show with real country music. Little Big Town, Maren Morris, Lady Antebellum are not country artists either. At best they are pop artists with a touch of twang. Also, Brandi Carlisle is very talented but she seems to fit into Americana much more than country. Miranda, Carrie and Alison were great picks however.
Why the low ratings? Many will not like or agree with this observation. I think radio country listeners by and large are more interested in seeing male performers. Not all of them, mind you but a fair amount. Call it the soccer mom demographic. You know who I’m talking about, the gals who buy tickets to Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryant, Sam Hunt, Aldean, FGL etc.
I come from decades listening to country music and well remember when Reba, Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle, Barbara Mandrell, Tammy, and so many others dominated the charts and had fans from all ages and both sexes. It was a much better time then. Sadly the Trashville machine has purposely changed the demographic with this result. Who’s more to blame, the industry or the fans? Tough call as they both play a role.
October 22, 2018 @ 10:49 am
Oh so women, sorry soccer moms are to blame for low ratings and supporting male artists that you don’t deem country. You would think that men with their superior tastes would outnumber women at Miranda concerts or make up the majority of listeners of female country acts on streaming platforms. Unfortunately none of the data supports your sexist and demeaning comments.
October 22, 2018 @ 11:14 am
Sheesh
October 22, 2018 @ 12:49 pm
I’m not sexist in any way shape or form. Never have been, never will be. So take your name calling elsewhere. I dont engage in attacking commentors on this site and name calling so i ask you do the same. You know very little about me. You clearly don’t see what I am seeing here in the midwest. It’s about demographics…period. I’ve observed over and over what the radio country demographic is. They are targeting females between the age of 14 and 45. That’s been extensively written about by people who know more than me and you. Radio folks will admit as much. Sorry you can’t see that.
My supposition isn’t original to me at all, it’s been stated by others who observe things as they are. You apparently didn’t read the rest of my comment. I’ve been listening to country music for decades. I love female artists and support them, always have. I wish the mainstream still played country music and played female “country” artists. Unfortunately it’s not that way. We all regularly complain about that. The question always remains why. It’s a complex issue and changing demographics are indeed part of it. Radio is merely a puppet of the Trashville machine. But ultimately consumers can either reject or accept the product being put out. Currently the product is making profits and the industry sees little need to change. I merely threw out perhaps some of the reasons why this is happening, I’m sure other factors exist. As for the soccer mom analogy, I’ve got no beef with soccer mom’s or mom’s in general. Love them, treasure them as we all should.
So tired of folks constantly screaming sexist, racist, bigot etc. People are complex creatures and putting them in little category boxes with nasty little names attached is dehumanizing and tribal. That’s half of what’s wrong with this country.
October 22, 2018 @ 2:17 pm
How about the next time you try and lay the blame of country radio’s ills at the feet of women you remember your own words that people are complex creatures and stop putting them in little category boxes like soccer moms.
You say consumers can make their choice by supporting female artists on streaming platforms. Let’s have a look at Spotify:
“Overall, Spotify has 44.3% female listeners,
but only 21.7% of streams from female or mixed-gender artists.
Female listeners stream 29.7% from female or mixed-gender artists.
Male listeners stream 16.7% from female or mixed-gender artists.”
So men outnumber women on Spotify but yet stream far less female artists. That’s quite strange since we’re constantly told here on SCM that radio is full of trash and men here stream their music and female artists at that. Let’s have a look at the Billboard top streaming country songs chart. Bebe Rexa and Lauren Alaina are the only women featured in songs in top 25 streaming chart. Another hole in the we stream women argument.
How about iTunes, surely men are buying female artists music in droves with their superior taste. Surprisingly Maddie and Tae are the only female artists in the iTunes Top 20 Country chart and their demographic leans heavy towards the female side.
When are the men going to show up to save the women in country music?
October 22, 2018 @ 4:01 pm
Thx. My wife got a good chuckle on the sexist label. She suggests I change my handle here to bigoted sexist.
Thanks for the spirited debate too. Wasn’t referring to streaming, just terrestrial radio. But it’s ok, we both can at least agree country radio listeners have lousy taste , right? I will drink a cold one right now and ponder the deeper complexities of the hops and grain while listening to the bad Karaoke folks here in the neighborhood watering hole.
Cheers
October 22, 2018 @ 6:13 pm
Maybe also ponder why your first thought went to blaming women. Cheers.
October 22, 2018 @ 7:16 pm
TXmusic pick your battles man. Kev’s comment was in no way sexist. You’re way too sensitive and your letting your PC think get the best of ya. (Do you notice I’m trying to be nicer to you? 🙂 )
October 22, 2018 @ 8:01 pm
TxMusic,
I wish you would understand that we’re here for discussions. It doesn’t mean we can’t have spirited disagreements, but so often you immediately make it personal and judgemental, which veers the conversation off topic. Please, give your opinions and state your case, but stop thinking of everyone around here as one-celled organisms. You think someone’s wrong? Try to convince them of your side. Don’t just put them down and think the worst of them. I appreciate you perspective here but it doesn’t always have to be so combative.
October 22, 2018 @ 8:17 pm
Very well said, sir. TXmusic ‘s heart is in the right place, but he’s doing too much headhunting.
October 23, 2018 @ 7:45 am
Trigger your whole schtick is being combative and putting people down for simply making music you don’t like. You literally shit on people and cast aspersions because you don’t like the way they’ve styled themselves.
We can just revisit the whole Dolly thread if you want to see people behaving like once celled organisms and getting away with it. You’ve lost really good commenters here because you’ve fostered a climate where people can make racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments but god forbid anybody points that out because then they’re the problematic one.
October 23, 2018 @ 7:47 am
Seth you remind me a lot of Trigger.
October 23, 2018 @ 10:39 am
I appreciate the compliment TX. You don’t know how much I wish I could do what Trigger does. And we were actually trying to be nice to you, but I’ll try even harder as you seem to be the most sensitive person on this site. No offense man, but you should slow your roll a little and we can have some productive discussions on these threads. Even tho you have a different perspective than I do, I don’t deny your perspective has value.
October 23, 2018 @ 11:31 am
Thank you for your extreme kindness Seth. It almost makes me forget how you go around insulting people and calling them names and mocking their viewpoints. Almost.
October 23, 2018 @ 11:51 am
I just like to argue sir, because it keeps the brain healthy and I like testing my position against others’. Mocking is sometimes justified, and it would be here seeing as you are continuing to act like a child, but I shall restrain myself and I look forward to the next episode of bickering we undoubtedly will have. Stay golden, Pony Boy.
October 23, 2018 @ 12:21 pm
Oh Seth did I say something wrong?
October 23, 2018 @ 4:12 pm
Not at all. You can say whatever you want, but let’s save it for a worthwhile discussion, eh? Take care man.
October 22, 2018 @ 10:38 am
This is super disappointing. There was a hell of a lot of talent on that stage. Pistol Annies were solid as always, but they have way stronger material than that. Even with some super up and down music, Kimberly and Karen from LBT are very good singers. Gladys Knight was a treat, as was seeing Brandi Carlisle, even if a part of me really wished everyone would’ve showcased other women in country. I definitely wish Hillary Scott would’ve showcased a young country artist instead of Tori Kelly.
I was pleasantly surprised by Kelsea, and I wish she would commit more to country because I do think she has some solid abilities to develop, and she and Allison sounded amazing. She has some real country in her voice if she would use it.
Carrie bringing Maddie and Tae and Runaway June was awesome. They definitely have talent and I’m interested about where they are going musically, and Carrie just once again reminded everyone even heavily pregnant she is probably the best singer in mainstream country, and can sing the classics as well as anyone. THat was a solid group of songs in the medley, and they sounded great together.
There was definitely a lot to like about this, it’s just a shame no one saw it.
October 22, 2018 @ 11:43 am
I only watched it because they were honoring Loretta.Had they not given her this award,I would not have watched it at all.While she was unable to be on the show,I watched anyway because they honored her.
I very seldom watch CMT unless Loretta is on.In fact,I never watch the CMA or ACM awards unless Loretta is on.
To quote that famous song by Terri Clark, “I got Better Things to do”.I watch a Loretta DVD while the award show is on.
October 22, 2018 @ 1:15 pm
How long to keep pushing an agenda when the fans are apparently not interested? For reasons that I’ve never delved into, I have a natural proclivity for listening to male performers. Maybe I can naturally relate to it? Am I a sexist pig for my aesthetic choices? Who knows. Do I need to enter a re-education camp to get my stats up closer to 50% female? Should I hate myself?
October 22, 2018 @ 7:10 pm
Yep, yer hopeless. Don’t worry though, Tex will show you the way.
October 22, 2018 @ 8:26 pm
I love the new handle Kev! You should style your comments in the most PC way you can from now on and become the most ironic commentator on this site!
October 23, 2018 @ 4:43 am
I couldn’t reply to your comment above, so I commented down here. I never said I was against homosexuality. I said Jesus condemned it. If someone wants to be gay, who am I to tell them no? And I don’t see what they’re singing about as prostitution, but if you see it that way, it’s her body. That’s what you always say about other rights, isn’t it?
October 23, 2018 @ 10:49 am
No I’ve never commented on women’s rights to the best of my knowledge, and I’m actually pro-life (except in cases of rape and the mother’s health being in peril because that’s between God and the woman, and I don’t think anyone including the government has a right to intervene in those situations). But I guess it’s good that you seem to embrace the separation of church and state.
October 22, 2018 @ 1:49 pm
Well, that is the free market for you.
October 22, 2018 @ 1:57 pm
“Many memorable moments took place on the evening, including Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman singing with soul legend Gladys Knight on a medley of songs, and Maren Morris and Brandi Carlile performing a tribute to Aretha Franklin.”
WTF, as the children say? A country music (sic) channel with Gladys Knight as special guest and paying tribute to Aretha Franklin on a show that’s supposed to be in the tribute to female country singers? I don’t recall a damn word about country female vocalist trailblazers Lynn Anderson and Jean Shepard dying on any country music awards shows back in 2015 let alone a tribute. These little mediocre, not very popular despite the hype singers like Fairchild, Schlapman, Morris, and Carlile if they had any brains would be praising to the skies the great country female vocalists who paved the way for them like Shepard, who was one of the very first to prove females could be important solo stars, and Anderson, one of the first to be widely known by the mainstream general public, instead of singing in honor to rock, pop, or soul legends who undoubtably never had heard of them any more than these dumb broads apparently have heard of Jean and Lynn. I’m glad Loretta missed this nonsense, maybe she deliberately skipped it.
October 22, 2018 @ 3:19 pm
couple thoughts :
if radio isn’t PLAYING female artists , awareness by listeners won’t be there …..hence they won’t tune in .
very few of the women on that show are actual country artists …they are lightweight pop artists who work in the country genre . they fall between genre cracks very quickly that way ….ie :AMA’s POP video awards shows and such …the kids watching those shows don’t see these faceless , nondescript artists as being in the same league as Carli B or Beyonce or Taylor Swift or Duo Lipa or Rhianna whatsoever . so these artists don’t even have THAT viewership to tap into .
so if you are trying to be all things to all people but wind up NOT being country and NOT being pop you are in a no-man’s land ( REALLY …NO PUN INTENDED ) plying your trade where there are relatively few people interested .
thirdly ….I have not seen the show yet so I can’t comment on performances and such …but WHAT THE HELL IS GLADYS KNIGHT DOING ON AN ALL-FEMALE COUNTRY SHOW ?????? Isn’t that just country music undermining itself once again ??????
October 22, 2018 @ 6:26 pm
Who do you think they should’ve had on instead of the two biggest female, current day country artists, Carrie and Miranda? I mean if those two alone can’t draw a decent crowd women are doomed.
October 22, 2018 @ 10:53 pm
”…if radio isn’t PLAYING female artists , awareness by listeners won’t be there …..hence they won’t tune in …”
agree TX …..they did get the biggest female ‘country’ artists around ….BUT Carrie doesn’t sing country music and Miranda doesn’t seem to chart or get the airplay she one did …so perhaps it would follow that not enough people would care that she’s on that particular show . AND if she was only advertised as part ot the Pistol Annies’s , I’m not the average casual listener would even know who they are .
October 23, 2018 @ 7:54 am
Our opinions about what’s country differ but I see your point. I don’t know who their target audience was but you would think they would be aware of the Pistol Annies since they’ve been around for a while and I don’t know anybody who’s not into country watching CMT.
October 22, 2018 @ 3:27 pm
I didn’t watch simply because I couldnt give a rats ass about any of the honorees. And why would I want to watch a bunch of pop singers claiming to be country sing Loretta songs? I guess many others felt the same way now that I see the ratings.
October 22, 2018 @ 3:33 pm
There was something really stupid about naming someone an artist of the year in a group and then not having the males be part of it. It is just telling me in huge bold letters, DO NOT WATCH!
October 22, 2018 @ 3:51 pm
I forgot it was on since I watch little of CMT programming. I do like Pickler & Ben though. I like many of the artists on there but prefer 90’s country.
October 22, 2018 @ 6:10 pm
Where the fuck was Kacey Musgraves? She is the female artist of the year.
By the way, that list seemed kinda… okay, I’mma put fellow major label artists and some indie ones to make a moment. She actually included the new artist from 2011 Lauren Alaina and RaeLynn.
Please.
October 22, 2018 @ 6:13 pm
Kacey Musgraves is currently touring Europe in obligations made prior to CMT’s Artists of the Year being booked. A few folks flipped out like she was being excluded, but it was a simple scheduling conflict.
October 22, 2018 @ 6:42 pm
I don’t get this channel but to be honest I might not have tuned in anyway. Glad to see the Pistol Annies opened the show, though–would have liked that. I’m a fan of some of those women featured, but have thought there are just too many award shows. I stopped watching any but the ‘main ones’, for music or movies.
Gladys Knight is a legend in music. If there was a show featuring women Artists from all genres, I’d be glad to see her there. Put here, though, and it doesn’t seem right–as if CMT couldn’t fill the stage with enough Country women, someone from another genre had to be brought in. It’s as strange as if a ‘Country’ Artist were to be invited to perform at an R&B/Soul awards show.
It’s a shame Loretta Lynn could not attend, but very glad for her, for the high honor she received.
I’m not sure if I understand the show’s intention, but hard to believe if CMT would give awards that can be for Male Country Artists, and purposely exclude them. Just make it a ‘Top Female Artist’ Award Show, then. If not, the awards will possibly not have the same meaning.
October 22, 2018 @ 7:07 pm
No surprise. Trying to create a demand that is not there. I know how the genre is male-dominated. I have said for a while that the marketing gurus is no doubt pushing it, but they are doing so due to demand.
So a whole show is geared towards women. The demand will be there and this show will pull in a bajillion viewers to show the radio/label folks that they need to satisfy the demand by equaling the gender offering.
Problem is it did not work. The free market did not cooperate.
“But the numbers do illustrate the continued dilemma country music faces to create appeal around the women of the genre when they’re not finding support from radio or tours to help build name recognition or awareness.” Well, creating something the market is not demanding is a high bar to set. Of course, we could socialize by mandate the music offerings. But we all know how socialism works, or most of us anyway.
Until the MARKET demands more women, not much can be done regardless of the efforts.
October 22, 2018 @ 11:39 pm
interestingly, pop music has NO problem getting young females to buy into their female artists …..and there are MANY , MANY hugely popular and hugely successful female pop artists….and not even particularly good ( Cardi B …???????) . so I’d argue that the demand IS or SHOULD BE there for female country artists and that it is probably a case of labels having to do a much better job in the propaganda/payola department . and , of course , signing and promoting ACTUAL FEMALE COUNTRY ARTISTS…not the pop-centric Balerini’s and Little Big Towns and Antebellums .
October 23, 2018 @ 6:32 am
The vehicle that I am currently driving has no cd player or Bluetooth or jack to play my phone over, so for the last few month I have been forced to listen to the radio. I started to look at it this way: If I’m going to have to listen to pop music, I’m gonna listen to people who are claiming to be pop and are actually not too bad, on the pop stations. The music not being country aside, even as pop music it’s not good. But I do have 2 stations that come in halfway decent that play some good country music most of the time, so its not too bad all the time lol
October 23, 2018 @ 8:02 am
You’re speaking of different genres and fanbases though. Carrie can sell the same venues the top male country acts can because she has crossover appeal. People who wouldn’t be caught dead at a country show will go to a Carrie show which I guess bolsters your argument that Carrie is more pop than country.
Going back to the country fanbase, men and women alike seem to prefer male acts. I’m not sure it has anything to do with marketing but more with the culture.
October 23, 2018 @ 10:57 am
“Going back to the country fanbase, men and women alike seem to prefer male acts. I’m not sure it has anything to do with marketing but more with the culture.”
Oh my goodness TX, this is the exact same point that Kev The Hateful Bigot made above and that you got hufflepuffed about. What am I missing here sir?
October 23, 2018 @ 4:54 am
I watched the program on CMT that evening and enjoyed the music for what it was. Yes, it would have been nice to have some of the 80s and 90s country music ladies on the show. No bellyachin’ here… t’was a simple musical presentation of female singers. Better’n no show at all. 🙂
October 23, 2018 @ 5:39 am
I know everyone wants this to be about promotion but the culture that created country as a genre was a patriarchal culture, and has been slower to change than urban culture. Call it good or bad, I’m not making that argument, just stating the fact. I live in the rural South and I work in the horse industry, which in much of the South is a truly female dominated industry. Every woman I know who likes country prefers male acts – these are tough, self-confident and capable women, not wallflowers. Maybe that’s some deeply buried hegemony telling them that they like the men better than the women but it is what it is. When I put Miranda on in the barn they change it to someone else – even though many of them look and act just like Miranda. When they wear a t-shirt with a country act on it – which they do a lot – it’s always a male act. Rarely to never a woman. I’m a much bigger fan of female country acts than any of the women I know, including my wife, who is an executive and much more progressive in her attitudes about women in general than I am. Country music fans just aren’t that interested in female acts, especially female country music fans.
October 24, 2018 @ 4:06 pm
It’s not a fair conclusion to draw that “Country music fans just aren’t that interested in female acts, especially female country music fans” – you can’t generalize the entire country music fanbase based only on the women you associate with in a rural community. All of the female country fans that I’ve met across the country enjoy music from both male and female artists, and all of them want to hear women more on the radio. Many male country fans feel the same way. There IS an appetite for country music by women.
October 23, 2018 @ 2:24 pm
Just to respond to a few anonymous Twitter trolls who hide their identity to not expose their severe conflict of interest, and so they will not have to pay any consequences for their irresponsible lies and mischaracterizations:
The reporting in this article, and specifically the stats cited for the viewership for CMT’s Artists of the Year event on Wednesday, October 17th are 100% correct, verified, cited, sourced by independent 3rd parties, and indisputable. Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying. Not even CMT is claiming these numbers are incorrect. In fact, they are verifying they are correct by claiming it was DVR views after-the-fact that boosted viewer numbers for the presentation—numbers that have yet to even be finalized by the rating agencies. When the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year special was aired on Wednesday, it had significantly less viewership than the previous year. This is an indisputable fact, and this is what was reported by Saving Country Music.
Subsequently, CMT has claimed that the 2018 Artists of the Year was the most-watched presentation of its kind in franchise history. Saving Country Music reached out to CMT to ask where CMT was getting those numbers, what ratings agency or reporting source was supplying those numbers, and what the SPECIFIC numbers were in regards to the ratings stats so they could be crossed referenced with previous years. That information has still yet to be supplied.
That said, CMT is not a ratings agency, and is not in a position to collect or verify ratings data. That would be a conflict of interest as a broadcaster, since broadcasters use ratings to set advertising rates. This would be similar to asking Donald Trump to verify his own claims, or a music artist to set their own rating on an album review. That is why there are independent third parties—namely Nielsen—who are set up, and regulated and overseen by the United States government to accumulate and publish the ratings of television shows, as well as the consumption of other media. This is where other independent 3rd parties such as journalism outlets get their statistics. It also would never be the responsibility of any journalism outlet to query a specific media entity to obtain or verify ratings numbers, because of the clear conflict of interest, despite the incorrect and misguided assertions of some novice Twitter trolls.
As for DVR views, these numbers are not even finalized until 7 days after the television event. These numbers are called the “Live Plus 7” numbers, which tabulate and represent a deeper viewership after the public has been given a week to watch whatever their DVR has stored up. It won’t be another 36 to 48 hours before those numbers will even be available to Nielson, CMT, or anyone else when it comes to the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year presentation. There are more preliminary reports like “Live Plus 3,” and it is possible that those numbers changed the calculus for the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year presentation where they overtook the 2017 Awards, but those numbers have yet to be produced by CMT or anyone else to independently verify that claim. It’s not improbable that DVR views could significantly change the numbers, but they would need to over double the viewership of the 2018 presentation to overtake the 2017 viewership, which also received its fair share of DVR views after-the-fact. It’s not impossible this happened, but it certainly would be exceptional.
Saving Country music is in direct contact with Nielson over this issue, and is getting all the numbers associated with the 2017 and 2018 CMT Artists of the Year broadcasts to verify CMT’s claims that 2018 was the biggest year ever. If this is the case, I will be more than happy to either update this story, or compose another story explaining the DVR bump in viewership. But even then, it will not change the initial reporting whatsoever that the amount of people who tuned in on Wednesday night (10-17) to watch the presentation was significantly lower than the previous year. And again, the final numbers won’t even be available for another 36 to 48 hours, so demanding immediate action or clarification on this issue by Saving Country Music is impossible.
There is no beef with CMT and Saving Country Music. I had no idea that CMT would be claiming their highest ratings ever for the presentation (this article and their claim were posted virtually simultaneously), and this article was not a refute of their claim. It was simply a report on the initial viewership, which is a very common practice in entertainment reporting. If the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year presentation received a massive spike in viewership afterwards via DVR, excellent. I would love to report on that. But it would be unethical to use CMT as the source of that information, since they are not an impartial party to their own ratings, they still have not supplied any data to back up their claims, and the data that is in the public realm seems to refute their claims at the moment.
And lastly, there has been some concern about simulcasts. Simulcasts occur regularly for Viacom cable events, including CMT broadcasts. Again, Saving Country Music is in direct communication with Nielsen, and the simulcasts of the two events will be tabulated as well. However the claims that the 2018 simulcast on TV Land or any other station significantly changes the math on the initial numbers of the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year presentation are not true. The 2017 presentation had a 0.2 rating on CMT proper, along with any other simulcasts that may have occurred. The rating for the 2018 presentation would still be 0.15 WITH a simulcast, which would still put it roughly 25% below the previous year. Also the “000” numbers tied to the TV Land 2018 simulcast are clearly incorrect since they don’t add up in the chart. There is not a scenario where more people would watch a CMT presentation on TV Land as opposed to CMT.
Again, Saving Country Music is currently getting all the numbers together—including some which have not even been finalized yet—and as soon as there is verified information from a trusted 3rd party source about the ratings of the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year presentation, I will report it if relevant. Until then, there is nothing in this particular article to edit, clarify, or update.
October 23, 2018 @ 7:39 pm
CMT press Twitter confirms most watched in franchise history. TV land also showed it on their network the night it aired. You need a button to update your titles of articles when something like this happens. Some people only read the titles, may not go to comment section. Just a suggestion.
October 23, 2018 @ 9:05 pm
CMT Press is not a ratings agency. They are in no position to confirm anything. TV stations don’t compile or report ratings. That would be a conflict of interest. Nielsen compiles and reports ratings. This article does not need to be updated. There is nothing in the article that is incorrect. CMT claiming it was later DVR numbers that gave them a boost in ratings corroborates this. The above comment wasn’t an update to the article, it was a comment. If or when information is confirmed about the ratings for the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year presentation, I will either update this story, or post a new one. If CMT at any point would have posted the actual ratings they claim are the best in the history for the franchise, perhaps they would have been added here. But so far, they haven’t. All we have is a verbal claim. Saving Country Music made a specific request of CMT for this information, and it wasn’t provided. I am in contact with Nielsen, and as soon as we have all the data in place, we’ll find out what the truth is. I’m rooting for CMT, because I don’t want to post a story about how they’re lying. But they’re going to have to pull about half a million viewers out of their ass.
There are a lot of pseudo entry-level journalist dumbfucks showing their asses right now on Twitter by saying that CMT is the one that is in a position to report their own ratings. This is a gross misunderstanding of how media works.
October 24, 2018 @ 3:33 am
The extra 411,000 were watching the simulcast on TV Land at the exact same time. Talking purely on the overnight Nielsen TV reports you’ve linked above – you need to stop looking at the ratings points in relation to the 000s. It had less ratings points across the two stations for People 18-49 (which is how the report is ranked), but it had more total 000s across the 2 station simulcast than last year by +7% – the 000s in Nielsens report are capturing all people over the age of 2. So CMT calling it “most watched in franchise history” is correct, even though the rating points were lower – suggesting this year appealed more to older or younger audiences. This is before DVR data is even factored in. For reasons why more overall viewers were watching on TV Land vs CMT – potentially because CMT isn’t available in the cheapest cable packages anymore whereas TV Land is – a lot of fans were complaining across social media that CMT channel is now only part of a sport package that they don’t want to pay extra for. I’m sure Nielsen will come back and confirm those simulcast figures are correct and we can put this to rest.
October 24, 2018 @ 10:45 am
There is no way more people tuned into TV Land to watch the CMT Artists of the Year special than actually tuned into CMT. I could understand if one was one basic cable and another is not, but this is not the case. Also, if this was the case, the TV Land audience would have drawn better ratings than the CMT audience, which they didn’t. Also, even CMT is not saying that they beat 2017 with the overnight numbers. They are saying they beat them with strong DVR numbers from word-of-mouth, even though they have yet to cite any numbers, any ratings stats, or reveal where those ratings came from.
The real numbers from Nielsen are being compiled, and will come out eventually.
October 24, 2018 @ 12:33 pm
A quick Google search of cable package options shows that CMT isn’t available in most of the basic packages and TV Land is. “Assuming this was the case” as you said, again the 000s column in that ratings report doesn’t directly correlate to the rating points column because they are different age demographics. Have a look at some of the other numbers in there – e.g. at #8 ‘Black Ink Crew’ on VH drew 0.43 rating points for P18-49 and drew a P2+ audience of 923,000. Then at #31 we have ‘Shattered’ on Investigation Discovery channel which drew a rating point of 0.23 for P18-49 and an audience of P2+ 1,130. Which suggests more people outside of that 18-49 age bracket tuned into ‘Shattered’. Different age demographics have different viewing habits. And if you look at TV Lands programming slate there are a lot of old sitcoms and programs that cater to the 50+ audience. It’s very plausible that they saw promo for the CMT AOTY special while already watching the TV Land station. The average viewer wouldn’t then think “better go switch to CMT to watch this instead”.
CMTs first mention of the program being most watched was the morning after in Country Aircheck. Before any DVR data was available. Networks have access to the same overnight data we’re seeing in that ratings link; there are no hidden numbers.
November 1, 2018 @ 8:06 am
Any update on your own personal investigation? Viacom have now also confirmed 2018 as most watched in history, quoting Nielsen data from 2014-2018 as the source.
October 24, 2018 @ 1:11 am
How did 2018 compare to 2016?? Any data?
October 24, 2018 @ 6:59 am
Don’t worry about the screaming green hair female groups or RS writers coming for ya Trigg. They’re so ridiculous and angry all the time,most WOMEN don’t even have anything to do with them.
October 24, 2018 @ 8:04 am
Craig,
Great and spot-on comments
October 24, 2018 @ 3:49 pm
I wanted to clarify my comment about Gladys Knight–not realizing when I wrote it that she wasn’t the only non-Country Artist performing. (I didn’t want it to seem I was against her personally). I recently heard her being interviewed and enjoyed the wisdom she shared, and a wonderful personality. I wish she had been featured overall as a performer much more in recent years. I’ve esp enjoyed what the Grammy Awards have done, putting Artists from different genres together to perform, becoming it seems a highlight of their shows. I still think with a ‘Country Awards’ show to feature female Country Artists, other Artists shouldn’t be brought in to perform. If female Country Artists need more attention right now, bringing in other Artists to perform, I think, is not the way to do that.
Craig–(hope you’re still on here)–I really liked your comment. I’m curious about the Horse Industry you’re talking about Thinking about Horseracing and how very slow that industry has been to make changes from the old-time mentality it’s had for years. (Maybe the last sport to make changes needed). Your last line, saying female Country Artists aren’t being listened to as much, esp by female Country fans, I was surprised to see that. I’ve thought the opposite–that those who are listening to female Country Artists are mostly female fans. They could like male Artists as much or more, but I’ve thought they comprise most of the fanbase of female Country Artists.
You are a nice change from this–interesting to hear that all the women around you listen only to male Country Artists. (I wish all of you could be interviewed on a report on this!)
October 25, 2018 @ 3:29 am
That comment I have heard more than once. Women do not like to only hear Male singers. Is the real reason that majority of record label owners and radio program directors are men? So the music industry is still ole boy network so to speak?
October 25, 2018 @ 8:08 am
It was the highest rated AOTY show in CMT history, so someone’s either got their facts wrong or is spinning like a top. Reminds me of the West Wing episode where Leo asks the economists where the Dow is going to be 1 year from today. One of them says it will be the biggest bull market ever, the other says it will be a big bear market. Leo replies, “Come this time next year, at least one of you is going to look awfully stupid.”
October 25, 2018 @ 9:08 am
I have met some women program directors @ radio stations over the years,who won’t play women Country singers on the radio.
October 25, 2018 @ 2:19 pm
I love the wimmins but I’ve got a 580+ song playlist of country music of my favourite tunes and there’s no women on it
October 26, 2018 @ 6:18 am
Since much of the female audience in country music seems to prefer male artists, maybe we should establish quotas for the audience. Demand that listeners MUST be divided equally between male and female. If the ratio gets out of kilter, then make country music unavailable to those who skew the balance of listeners. That way we take the rights of the audience away so as to make it fair.
Gender affirmative action for music. I mean, let’s make it fair, right?
October 26, 2018 @ 8:28 am
Everything liberalism touches turns to sh*t. In this case, the CMT “all women presentation” Gender warfare, the politics of division. Turns people off and thus, people turn off the CMT award show and watch something else.
November 4, 2018 @ 10:04 pm
What’s the update here? Looks like multiple cable networks have also now confirmed that this was the most watched CMT AOTY in franchise history based on premiere ratings. Is the article going to be amended?
November 4, 2018 @ 10:52 pm
The investigation into the ratings of the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year presentation is active and ongoing. CMT is owned by Viacom, and Viacom owns other networks as well. The claim of the best ratings for the presentation are being made by the owners of CMT who have a vested interest in making such a claim. That is why it is imperative that those claims are verified by an unbiased 3rd party. CMT and Viacom have also been contacted, and they continue to not produce the specific ratings behind their claims, despite being asked specifically for them, and despite making that same information public in 2017 via press release when they also made the claim of the highest ratings for the franchise. I am also in active contact with Nielsen, but have yet been unable to either verify CMT’s/Viacom’s claims, or verify or refute the ratings information already published in this article. There is currently nothing to report or revise in this article, but I remain committed to trying to find the proper answers, and to report them if and when all the information can be verified.
November 5, 2018 @ 7:25 pm
Viacom quotes the source as data directly from Nielsen: “CMT Artists of the year premiere airings on CMT (2010 – 2018), VH1 (2014), TVL (2018)”
You can find that here: https://twitter.com/Viacom/status/1055511384862076928
My other question is if the original ratings information you’ve posted in this article is also yet to be verified, as you say, and you’re concerned about posting unverified numbers, why are the original audience claims still in the article? It comes across as contradictory
I do wish you luck with the investigation though. I hope Nielsen can come back with a response to verify the numbers either way.