The Tony Awards suffered a ratings dip Sunday as the ceremony adopted a new format.
The 2021 edition of the annual event only unveiled a few of the night’s awards on CBS, which aired a two-hour special called “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back.” The rest of the ceremony streamed Sunday on Paramount+.
The “Broadway’s Back” broadcast averaged 2.62 million viewers, CBS announced Monday.
The previous Tony Awards ceremony, which aired in 2019, averaged 5.4 million viewers.
The 2020 Tony Awards were canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered Broadway theaters for more than a year.
Shows on New York’s famed Great White Way have recently begun to reopen, with “Hamilton,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” each returning this month.
“Moulin Rouge!” led all productions Sunday with 10 wins, including one for best musical. The award show was held at the Winter Garden Theatre, located on Broadway.
Previous Tony Awards ceremonies have aired in June, meaning those broadcasts didn’t have to compete with NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” game of the week like the 2021 award show did.
The ratings for award shows have been down across the board in recent years, though this month’s Emmy Awards recorded the event’s highest viewership since 2018.
Paramount+ has not released the streaming numbers for Sunday’s Tony Awards broadcast.
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