The American Music Awards 2023 may overtake the BBMA with a date with no network — variety

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American Music Awards likely to take one year off, diverse to learn.

Following the news announcing that the Billboard Music Awards will move the date to November 19, 2023, usually the Sunday the AMAs are held, it appears parent company Dick Clark Productions has no choice but to move the AMAs up to 2024, when that’s possible. Take the May slot previously held by Billboard.

Multiple sources say neither of them secured broadcast partner and producer Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corp (the parent company of diverse and Billboard) to decide on which show to throw its weight behind. Since PMC owns the publication Billboard, insiders suggest the thinking was to promote its own brand. The chatter among music industry professionals is that the AMA, which was launched in 1973, is getting old.

However, a PMC spokeswoman confirmed that discussions are ongoing regarding both televoting awards. “We have offers on both shows from networks and animators,” a PMC spokeswoman said.

ABC, which had partnered with the American Music Awards for some time, was unaware of the BBMAs change until it was publicly announced on March 15. diverse That no decisions have been made regarding the renewal of the AMA contract.

As for the BBMAs, sources also confirm that NBC, which has been airing the show since 2018, didn’t pick it up this year. Instead, NBC is focusing on expanding the People’s Choice Awards franchise in the fall, including the new People’s Choice Awards coming out in September.

The AMA’s ratings have declined steadily in recent years, with the show hitting a low in 2022 with a 0.6 rating among adults in the key 18-49 demographic and just 3.53 million viewers. In the previous two years, the show was even, getting a 1.0 rating and 4 million viewers in both 2021 and 2020.

The AMA was created by Dick Clark for ABC after the broadcaster lost the rights to broadcast the Grammys to CBS. By the mid-1980s, the AMA had become a strong contender for the Grammys—even drawing more viewers in some years, particularly during the height of Michael Jackson’s popularity in the early part of that decade. The AMA originally aired in the winter—either January or February—from 1974 to 2003. In 2003, it also ran a second show in November, where it has aired ever since (until this year).

For the Billboard Music Awards, the kudocast launched on Fox in 1990, where it ran through 2006 and always aired in early December. After that, the awards show went dark for several years, until it was revived for ABC in 2011 and put in a new slot in May—presumably to avoid conflicts with the AMAs. It remained on ABC until 2017, but the show moved to rival broadcaster NBC in 2018. It aired on that network until 2022, usually occupying that Sunday in the May slot.

BBMAs have done a little better at holding their ratings over the past few years, achieving a 0.7 rating in both 2021 and 2022 and drawing an average of 2.8 million viewers in 2021 and 2.6 million in 2022.

Of course, award shows must either be licensed to air with — and these days, they are sometimes broadcast — partners, or get no ratings at all. So without a network finally lined up to take on next year’s AMAs — or BBMAs, this year, for that matter — the actual impact of this mix-up will need some time to take shape.

ABC declined to comment on Friday.

(Jennifer Mass contributed to this report.)