Whitney Houston tribute boosts Grammy ratings to 2nd best in history
Adele won all six categories she was in, including Record of the Year and Album of the Year. CREDIT: AP
The Grammy Awards drew a whopping 39 million viewers last night, up from 26.6 million a year ago.
In all likelihood, the boost came from the death of Whitney Houston as viewers sought a place to view a live tribute. L.L. Cool J, the host, gave a tasteful prayer at the start and they re-played a portion of Houston’s 1993 Grammy performance of “I Will Always Love You.”
At 10:40 p.m. EST, after an “In Memorium” segment, Jennifer Hudson sang a strong and achingly respectful performance of Houston’s signature song “I Will Always Love You.”
The other factor was anticipation of Adele’s comeback performance after throat surgery. And Adele did not disappoint, just happy to be able to sing again and getting the deserved accolades for her album that will not stop, “21.”
The 18-49 rating of 14.1 was the biggest since 1990, according to Nielsen’s preliminary ratings. (Final numbers will come out later today) The 39 million viewership figure is the 2nd best in history, only behind the “Thriller”-induced 1984 Grammys.
These ratings cover only 8 to 11 p.m. I’m not sure if the finals will adjust to include the 11 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. EST hour, since the show extended past prime-time. I suspect viewership dropped off at 11 p.m. so the final numbers may differ if they include that final half hour.
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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© 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
13 comments Add your comment
Whitney Fan
February 13th, 2012
12:39 pm
One of the better Grammies in recent years. It was refreshing to see an absence of hip-hop gutter that seems to have over-taken the industry the last decade. We were entertained by real talent all night and not once subjected to crotch-grabbing, saggy pant thugs rhyming and rapping instead of SINGING. Thank you grammies!
Whitney Houston tribute boosts Grammy ratings to 2nd best in history | ATLANTAboy.com | Gay Atlanta Celebrity, Film, Movie & TV News
February 13th, 2012
2:25 pm
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2nd Cup
February 13th, 2012
2:41 pm
How did it do locally on channel 46? I’m sure they could use the ratings bump.
cc
February 13th, 2012
3:05 pm
Whitney Fan – I agree with you 1000 percent!!!
Mike
February 13th, 2012
3:16 pm
Other than the Opening Prayer by LL Cool J and the wonderful tribute to Whitney Houston by Jennifer Hudson this was one of the worst shows. A lot of performances should have been eliminated or edited. There was not of good balance of talent last night. The ratings were only high because people waited to see the tribute to Whitney otherwise they would have turned the channel.
Whitney Houtons Ghost
February 13th, 2012
3:42 pm
Thabk you all for your well wishes and the lovely tributes. Please know that hell is not so bad for me. Its better then being married to bobby or coming down from crack. Michael jackson is handling hell far much worse.
Markov
February 13th, 2012
5:20 pm
Whitney Houston was clearly one of the very best of the best, which unfortunately today also is strongly correlated with substance and alcohol abuse. I grieve her death especially because at this late stage of her addiction[s] surely she had to realize that she would never again ever, ever recapture that first freebase or crack high hit ever again. At this point she surely knew that one is too many and a thousand are never enough. And even though in N.A. relapse is far more often a part of recovery than in our sister program of A.A., we will all miss her TERRIBLY !!! All the way home !!!
not sure
February 13th, 2012
9:34 pm
I am not so sure the Whitney Houston tribute, albeit necessary, boosted the ratings. It was actually a pretty good show, when it stuck to real music. And, perhaps that previous post is in bad enough taste to be removed?
MyPatootie
February 13th, 2012
10:48 pm
What a shame it had to end on such a sour, rotten note thanks to Nicki Minaj. I am amazed the producer of the show allowed that to go on after seeing it in rehearsals. I’m not even Catholic and it was way over the line and offensive. Gear that toward Islam and no way would it have ever hit the screen.
TG
February 14th, 2012
8:49 am
Mike, can you describe what you mean by “balance?” I think the show was extremely balanced and I think most objective viewers agree it was a quality show, one of the best in recent memory. I agree with you that most tuned in because of Whitney, but when they did, they got to see a lot of quality talent that was the not the same old, same old types we see try to hog every show. I will not call names, but it was a better show because the spotlight was shared. I appreciated that.
Sam-A
February 14th, 2012
9:20 am
Whitney Fan: Very well said! I have barely watched the Grammys in the past 20 years because there was little to no music shown, just thugs in 40 lbs of gold chains, with their raucous “posses” playing with their crotches and yammering on and on for what always seems like an eternity.
As much as I dislike country music, I think maybe the big surge in popularity, in big part I believe to those who are considered “crossover” ie, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Shania Twain,, et al, is responsible for getting this show back on track.
Highlander
February 14th, 2012
5:12 pm
@Whitney Fan (12:39pm, 2/13) – Props! On this one, we agree!
Eric
February 16th, 2012
8:36 pm
Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that Bounce TV will carry live coverage of Whitney’s funeral/memorial service this Saturday at Noon ET/9AM PT. Bounce TV can be seen locally over-the-air on channel 36.2 (WATL-DT2). Story: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/480685-Bounce_TV_to_Broadcast_Whitney_Houston_Funeral.php
No word on whether or not we’ll be seeing a public memorial service on the major TV networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, etc.) at a later date.