Understanding the Cable Awards Landscape

Much like their broadcast counterparts, cable awards shows have all seen audiences trend down in recent years. This was likely a key reason — alongside general Warner Bros. Discovery money-saving strategies — for TNT and TBS declining to renew their deal for the SAG Awards, with no other cable networks coming in and it being relegated to Netflix’s YouTube channel.

With the CMT Awards moving to be a CBS exclusive event, there remain four major awards on cable, all of which belong to Paramount. Of these, the BET Awards is now the strongest performer, beating out the MTV VMAs in 2022. This is especially poignant considering that, within the VMAs total, broadcast network The CW was included last year, whilst the BET Awards remained strictly on cable. 

The same trend can be seen when analyzing the total share of 18-49s watching, with 2022 the first year amongst those tracked to see more 18-49s watching the BET Awards than did so for the MTV VMAs.  

That said, here’s a brief overview of the performance of those remaining awards shows on cable TV.  

BET AWARDS 

2.6 million total viewers in 2023, -57% vs. 2016 

The 2023 edition of the BET Awards saw a dip from the prior year’s resurgence (by -16%, or 504K viewers), but part of this can be explained by a lack of major stars — like big winner Beyoncé — who are currently on tour. Even though the total audience is down by a million from 2020, it’s important to note that the share of 18-49s watching remains consistent at 0.9. The BET Awards still maintains a cultural cache. 

MTV MOVIE & TV AWARDS 

977k total viewers in 2023, -72% vs. 2016 

The MTV Movie & TV Awards, which aired in May, began to see its audience slide before COVID-19 hit, unlike many other awards shows, which had seen a more gradual drop. But this has continued post-pandemic and shows the difficulty of maintaining a youth-centered brand on a medium younger people do not rate.  

MTV VMAs 

2.7 million total viewers in 2023, -57% vs. 2016 

Set for Sept. 12, the VMAs could certainly please to be a victim of circumstance. Performance prior to COVID-19 saw 2019’s ceremony see a slight increase from 2018, up to a still considerable 5 million viewers. Yet post-pandemic has seen audience numbers almost halve from 2019’s level, with it likely that trend will continue this year.

BET Hip-Hop Awards 

914k total viewers in 2022, -58% vs. 2016 

The BET Hip-Hop Awards saw the typical pandemic audience slide, but it has subsequently bucked the trend and is the only awards show to see increases in both 2021 and 2022. Whilst modest growth of 90K-100K each year, it certainly isn’t seeing a high rate. However, this shouldn’t be discounted, as it is still a considerable achievement, with the show likely to continue that trend and pull in more viewers than the MTV Movie & TV Awards for the first time, especially given that 2023 is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.

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