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The Critics Choice Awards drew the biggest audience on The CW the ceremony has seen in four years.
Sunday’s annual ceremony, which kicked off at 7 p.m. ET, brought in 1.04 million viewers — up 14% from last year’s show — and a 0.15 rating in the key broadcast demo among adults 18-49, according to live-plus-same day Nielsen figures.
Hosted by Chelsea Handler from the Barker Hangar in Los Angeles, the 29th annual show scored 202,000 viewers in the key 18-49 demo — up 50% from last year — and reached 239,000 viewers among adults 25-54 — up 37% from last ceremony.
The Critics’ Choice Awards ranks as the network’s third most-watched telecast of the season. The broadcast peaked at 1.14 million total viewers during the 9-9:30 p.m. time slot, which coincides when the best winners for best comedy and drama series were awarded.
Sunday’s ceremony competed with several NFL games, including the Eagles vs. the Buccaneers playoff game, which began at 8:15 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN, as well as the Steelers vs. the Bills pla off game, which got underway at 4:30 p.m. ET.
For reference, the Golden Globes kicked off this year’s award season with 9.4 million viewers on CBS — up 50% from last year — while Monday night’s Emmys scored a record ratings low of 4.3 million viewers.
“This year’s show was an unforgettable night celebrating the great performances and hard work of this year’s nominees,” CCA CEO Joey Berlin said in a statement. “We’d like to thank our incredible host Chelsea Handler, the best awards show host in the business, as well as our amazing honorees, presenters, and nominees for coming out to make our star-studded evening truly memorable.”
The ceremony, which is produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Entertainment, handed out the most film awards to “Oppenheimer,” and saw “The Bear,” “Beef” and “Succession” nearly sweeping each of their respective TV categories.
