Country music fans are going to want to hold onto their Prime Video accounts.
On Thursday, the Academy of Country Music, Prime Video and Dick Clark Productions, the producer of the ACM Awards, announced in a press release that the award show will continue airing exclusively on the streaming service.
According to the release, the ACM Awards secured a multi-year deal with the platform so the event is confirmed to stream the 59th annual and 60th annual ceremonies in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
2022 marked the first year that ACM Awards, which honors achievements in country music among artists, songwriters and producers, partnered with Prime Video, Amazon Music, Amazon Freevee and Amazon Live — making it the first-ever award show to stream exclusively.
This year’s event, which was hosted in May by music legends Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, also streamed on the platform. It became one of the most-watched award shows of the year — bringing in over 7.7 million viewers on Prime Video, plus more across Amazon Music, the Amazon Music Channel on Twitch and Amazon Live.
Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon MGM Studios, shared a statement in a press release about the deal. “When Prime Video first streamed the ACM Awards in 2022, we were overwhelmed with the response from our global audience,” Sanders said.
He continued, “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.”
Along with the announcement of the multi-year partnership, the Academy of Country Music confirmed the 59th annual ACM Awards will air in May 2024 from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
“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,” said Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside in a press release.
His statement continued, “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!”
This year’s ACM Awards was a star-studded affair and saw performances from A-list talent, including HARDY, Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Keith Urban, Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert, as well as a duet from Carly Pearce and Trisha Yearwood and a special appearance from Ed Sheeran, and more.
The stacked winners list included Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wallen and Brothers Osborne, among others, and Chris Stapleton took home the prize for the coveted entertainer of the year award.
via[people.com]
