American Music Awards ceremony falls to record low, joining other awards shows with a sharp drop in viewers amid the pandemic

Variety

Despite Taraji P. Henson as host and big names like Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Dan + Shay emerge as the big winners, only about 3.8 million watched last night's ceremony on ABC. That's about a 43% drop from last year. The AMAs' lead-in America's Funniest Home Videos had slightly more viewers.

ALSO:

• It's a shame the AMAs had to be held in-person: "COVID-19 cases continue to rise and we’re poised for an even bigger spike after Thanksgiving travel and gatherings, which makes it a perfectly unaware time to hold yet another in-person awards show," says Justin Curto. "For the AMAs’ part, they didn’t pack as much of an audience .. or have droves of positive celebrities canceling beforehand... but still, we’ve seen some great virtual awards shows. And you mean to tell us these artists were willing to risk it for these knockoff Grammys?"
• Bad Bunny canceled AMAs performance after testing positive for coronavirus
• The Weeknd showed up to the AMAs with his head bandaged to make a point about drunk driving