CBS’ broadcast of the 45th annual Kennedy Center Honors — which recognized George Clooney, U2, Tania León, Gladys Knight and Amy Grant — took home a Wednesday night ratings win for the network.
The two-hour special averaged about 5.1M total viewers, which was up 18% compared to last year’s audience of about 4.3M. It was the No. 1 show of the night in terms of total viewership.
In addition to the CBS broadcast, the special also streamed on Paramount+ and CBS TVE, where it ranked as the most live-streamed program on the platform Wednesday.
The Kennedy Center Honors also made a splash on social media, where the special drove about 225M potential impressions and 10,000 mentions — up 12% and 25% over last year, respectively.
Last year’s ceremony, which aired on December 22, managed 201M potential impressions and 8,000 mentions.
The 45th annual ceremony took place on December 4 at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. It is one of the events at the top of the D.C. social calendar, with the presence of President Joe Biden, Chief Justice John Roberts and congressional leaders of both parties.
Other prominent attendees included Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Garth Brooks, Chita Rivera, Sean Penn, and Eddie Vedder.