• by Wayne Friedman , April 4, 2022

"The 64th Grammy Awards" on CBS did a bit better than last year's record low numbers, but not by much -- around 4%, according to network projections.

The network recorded 8.93 million Nielsen “fast national”-measured viewers, which does not include out-of-home (OOH) viewing. CBS estimates that when including OOH viewing, total results will rise around 8% to 9.6 million.

A year ago, total final Grammy average viewers were a Nielsen-measured 9.23 million. TV viewing only -- sans OOH -- came in at 8.8 million.

A week ago, the biggest entertainment awards show -- "The Academy Awards" on ABC -- grew 56% versus a year ago to 15.4 million.

Some 185 equivalized 30-second commercials of TV commercials -- with a large percentage on the CBS Television Network -- were viewed, producing 721 million impressions from an estimated total ad revenue of $64.5 million, according to iSpot.tv.

Major brands in the event included Subway, Goldfish, Ram Trucks, Neutrogena, iRobot, Mastercard, Disney+, Progressive Insurance, Bank of America, GlaxoSmithKline, Allstate Insurance, Dupixent, and Ashley Homestore

ViacomCBS’ CBS Television Network ran 28 equivalized 30-second on-air promos.

Sister companies Paramount Pictures aired four spots, and streaming platform, Paramount+ aired five.

MediaRadar said 118 national TV commercials ran during the "Grammy Awards," with media and entertainment marketers growing to leading 17% of all spots aired (up from 10% a year ago).

Paid TV streaming platform marketers on the “Grammy Awards” include CNN+, Disney+, FX (Hulu), HBO Max, and Peacock.

Pharmaceutical marketers were the next-biggest category in share -- at 12% (vs. 9% in 2021), with finance advertisers at 10% (slipping from 11% in 2021); retail at 8% (up from 3%); and technology at 8% (down from 10%).