ACM Awards Re-Up With Prime Video in Multiyear Deal
Written by djfrosty on November 2, 2023
The Academy of Country Music Awards are returning to Prime Video, with the 59th annual ACM Awards set to stream live on the platform in May 2024. A new, two-year deal with the streamer will also take the ACM Awards through its 60th anniversary in 2025.
In collaboration with Prime Video and producer Dick Clark Productions (DCP), the 59th annual ACM Awards will again stream from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, with details regarding voting timeline, hosts, nominees, performers and more to roll out in the months ahead.
The renewal follows the 58th annual awards show, which was hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, drew in more than 7.7 million viewers on Prime Video, plus additional viewership across Amazon Music, the Amazon Music channel on Twitch and Amazon Live. In 2022, the ACM Awards made history by becoming the first major awards show to exclusively stream live for a global audience.
“When Prime Video first streamed the ACM Awards in 2022, we were overwhelmed with the response from our global audience,” Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios, said in a statement. “After seeing last year’s show grow to more than 7.7 million viewers, we could not be more thrilled to continue our relationship with the Academy of Country Music and Dick Clark Productions for the next two years, and especially through the show’s milestone 60th anniversary in 2025. We look forward to continuing the success and bringing even more star-studded and captivating shows to fans around the world.”
“The Academy is proud to extend our relationship with Amazon for the next two years, through the historic milestone of the 60th ACM Awards, and continue to bring Country Music’s Party of the Year live to a global audience on Prime Video,” Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside added in a statement. “Thanks to the biggest host pairing of all time, Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, the comprehensive, cross-platform program with our partners at Prime Video and Amazon Music, and the dedicated fans in Texas and around the world, the May 2023 show was a groundbreaking success and illustrates that our pioneering and innovative move to streaming was absolutely the right one at the right time! We’re eager to see everyone back in Texas once again at the home of the Dallas Cowboys next May for another groundbreaking ACM Awards show!”
“The ACM Awards continues its legacy of celebrating the very best of country music, captivating audiences globally,” said Jay Penske, CEO, chairman and founder, Penske Media, and CEO of DCP. “We look forward to collaborating with our partners at the Academy of Country Music and Prime Video building together towards the show’s 60th anniversary in 2025.”
“We had the best time bringing the ACM Awards to country music fans last year,” said Ryan Redington, GM of Amazon Music. “The ACM Awards continue to shine a spotlight on talent with incredible performances year after year, and celebrate the artists, songwriters, and producers that make country music great. We look forward to bringing one of the biggest country music moments of the year to fans again in 2024.”
The 2023 ACM Awards was a two-hour concert event that featured 18 performances from 25 artists, with Chris Stapleton leading the evening’s top winners, receiving his first ACM entertainer of the year win. HARDY and Lainey Wilson earned four wins each during the evening, with Wilson’s wins including album of the year (for Bell Bottom Country) and female artist of the year, while HARDY took home honors including artist-songwriter of the year.
(DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldrige. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.)