Nashville’s New Year’s Eve Show Doubles Viewership

CBS’ “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash” had more viewers than ever across the nation doubling viewership from last year.

The show is 2023’s #1 country program of the year––followed by the CMA’s (6.84m), CMT’s (5.64m) as well as “CMA Fest” (3.65m), “People’s Choice Country Awards” (3.90m), NBC’s “Christmas at The Opry” (4.44m), “CMA Country Christmas” (4.49m) and “CMA FEST: 50 Years of Fan Fair” (1.77m).*

From 7:30-10:00pm, “Nashville’s Big Bash” averaged 8.31m viewers, more than doubling its primetime audience last year. CBS’s first portion of primetime coverage outranked ABC’s first portion of primetime coverage by +18% (versus 7.03m). This was CBS’s most watched original entertainment special since The 65th Annual Grammy Awards last February.

“New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash” was live streamed on Paramount+ and CBS (CBS.com /CBS app) and was the #1 live streamed entertainment program of the day on the service on both reach and time spent. Live streaming on Paramount+ and CBS TVE was up +100% from last year’s live streaming on an AMA basis. On socials, the show drove over 76.7m potential social impressions.

In addition to soaring viewership, Nashville saw a spike in in-person attendance at Nashville’s Big Bash as well. An estimated 215,000 fans (+5,000 more than 2022) gathered at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park to ring in the new year with headliners Thomas Rhett, Lainey Wilson, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

“Entertainment Tonight”’s Rachel Smith hosted the special along with GRAMMY®-nominated artist Elle King. To celebrate the Eastern time zone’s arrival into the new year, King and Wilson joined Lynyrd Skynyrd on-stage for “Sweet Home Alabama,” marking the first time women have shared lead vocals on the song live.

The night also featured Old Dominion, who performed live from the sold-out “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash” official watch party at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville.

The full lineup included performances from Trace Adkins, Grace Bowers, Kane Brown, Jackson Dean, Old Dominion, HARDY, Elle King, Cody Johnson, Parker McCollum, Megan Moroney, Brothers Osborne, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton, Trombone Shorty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson and Bailey Zimmerman, as well as special guest appearances from Tennessee Titan and five time all-pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and actor/comedian Rob Schneider.

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About Jerry Holthouse

Music editor for Nashville.com. Jerry Holthouse is a content writer, songwriter and a graphic designer. He owns and runs Holthouse Creative, a full service creative agency. He is an avid outdoorsman and a lover of everything music. You can contact him at JerryHolthouse@Nashville.com

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