By: Reagan Zemgulis
For a while, awards shows felt like they were going the way of cable TV—bloated, outdated, and out of step with an increasingly streaming focused world. Until something surprising happened this past year, and millions of people actually started watching again.
The 2025 Tony Awards delivered a 44% increase in broadcast viewership from the previous year, hitting their highest numbers since 2019. The Tony’s, traditionally more niche than the Oscars or Grammys, saw this spike despite the lack of major crossover stars like Denzel Washington or Jake Gyllenhaal.
The Tony’s are just the latest in a growing list of awards shows experiencing a comeback. The Oscars have seen four straight years of growth and the Emmys were up 50% last year. In a competitive entertainment world dominated by streaming platforms, live programming has a newfound value.
Awards shows now fill the same niche as live sports or Saturday Night Live: everyone knows when they’re on and they create real-time cultural moments on social media. Watching the Oscars or Tony’s while following along on Instagram, Twitter or TikTok in a way becomes a shared national pastime and a cultural custom.
What’s next on the Awards Horizon?
With renewed interest, awards shows are gearing up for an increasingly packed calendar. Below are major upcoming events across the rest of 2025 and into early 2026:
- June 21 – Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards
- June 25 & 26 – News & Documentary Emmy Awards
- July 15 – Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations
- August 7 – Critic’s Choice Super Awards
- September 14 – Primetime Emmy Awards
- November 7 – Grammy Awards Nominations
- January 11, 2026 – Golden Globe Awards
- February 1, 2026 – Grammy Awards
- March 15, 2026 – Academy Awards
Why it Works Now
At the end of the day, awards shows have figured out how to stay relevant by doing what they’ve always done best—mixing big moments, familiar faces, and a little bit of chaos, all in one place. Tune in for a performance, a funny speech, a viral moment, or just to see what everyone’s talking about on Monday.
They’ve become the rare kind of TV event that still brings people together, even if we’re all watching with one eye on our phones. And that’s exactly why they’re back. Not because they’ve stayed the same but because they’ve changed just enough to keep us watching.
