Superhero host Simu Liu and superstar honouree Shawn Mendes were not enough to attract big ratings for this year’s JUNO Awards.
The May 15 show celebrating Canadian music, broadcast live on CBC Television from Toronto’s Budweiser Stage, failed to crack the week’s Top 30 in the English Canada ratings.
According to data from Numeris, the JUNO Awards also didn’t make it into the Top 30 in major markets like Vancouver/Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal.
Veteran TV columnist Bill Brioux noted that In the Toronto-Hamilton market – Canada’s largest with roughly 7 million people – the JUNOs drew 216,000 viewers to rank 16th for the week.
Citing Numeris overnight data (which iHeartRadio.ca was not able to verify), a CBC publicist said the JUNOs had an audience of 645,000. She claimed the show also "reached" nearly 500,000 on CBC's radio platforms and was streamed live over 90,000 times – figures attributed to "Adobe Analytics."
Mendes attended the show to accept the International Achievement Award, which recognizes homegrown artists “who have attained exemplary success on the world stage.” He was also named winner of the Fan Choice award.
This year’s JUNOs featured performances by acts like Arcade Fire, Charlotte Cardin, Avril Lavigne, Arkells and Lauren Spencer-Smith. The winners in only five categories were announced during the broadcast.
Media in Canada reported in 2019 – the last year the JUNOs were held in person – that Numeris data showed an average audience of 1.1 million, down from 1.26 million in 2018.
Ratings for awards shows in general have declined in recent years. This year's JUNOs were up against the Billboard Music Awards, which also failed to rank in the Top 30.
This article has been updated since it was first published.