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    ACM Awards latest ceremony with declining viewership; Nielsen week in review

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1117 Views
    Keith Urban performs at the 56th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Saturday, April 17, 2021, at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. The awards show airs on April 18 with both live and prerecorded segments. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

    By Lynn Elber, Television Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    The Academy of County Music honors drew a record-low audience, joining other awards shows also finding dwindling viewer interest.

    Ceremony ratings generally have slid in recent years and the trend has continued during the pandemic, with the recent Grammys and Golden Globes among those nosediving.

    Next up to be tested: the Academy Awards, airing Sunday on ABC (8 p.m. EDT).

    The ACM Awards drew just under 6.3 million viewers last Sunday, compared to the 6.6 million that watched in 2020, according to Nielsen figures released Tuesday. Luke Bryan was crowned entertainer of the year during the event hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton.

    An episode of "60 Minutes," with a segment on the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, was the week's most-watched TV program. Members of the group are being investigated in connection with the U.S. Capitol insurrection, with one having pled guilty to federal charges.

    The news magazine and the ACM Awards — which ranked among last week's top five programs despite the ceremony's slump — were both on CBS and helped lead the network to a weekly ratings victory.

    CBS averaged 4.45 million viewers, followed by ABC with 3.6 million. NBC had 3.1 million, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.07 million, ION had 1.05 million and the CW had 710,000.

    Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.23 million viewers in primetime. MSNBC had 1.48 million, HGTV had 1.36 million, CNN had 1.05 million and TBS had 947,000.

    ABC's "World News Tonight" topped the evening news ratings contest, averaging 8.3 million viewers last week. NBC's "Nightly News" had 6.9 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.2 million.

    For the week of April 12-18, the 20 most-watched programs, their networks and viewerships:

    1. "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.48 million.
    2. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 7.46 million.
    3. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 6.83 million.
    4. ACM Awards, CBS, 6.28 million.
    5. "The Voice," NBC, 5.83 million.
    6. "Magnum P.I.," CBS, 5.58 million.
    7. "NCIS," CBS, 5.56 million.
    8. "United States of Al," CBS, 5.45 million.
    9. "American Idol" (Sunday), ABC, 5.44 million.
    10. "American Idol" (Monday), ABC, 5.39 million.
    11. "Mom," CBS, 5.35 million.
    12. "The Masked Singer," Fox, 5.17 million.
    13. "Bull," CBS, 5.12 million.
    14. "Station 19," ABC, 5.1 million.
    15. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 4.98 million.
    16. "The Neighborhood," CBS, 4.95 million.
    17. "This Is Us," NBC, 4.81 million.
    18. "Bob Hearts Abishola," CBS, 4.74 million.
    19. "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 4.73 million.
    20. "Law & Order: Organized Crime," NBC, 4.41 million.

    Tags:60 MinutesACM AwardsNielsen



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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