CBS Gets 7.2 Million Viewers With Tony Awards, Highest For The Show Since 2009

By most accounts, last night’s Tony Awards show was one of the best in many years, and the numbers are out to back the early reviews. The CBS show ranked second behind NBC’s NBA Finals between San Antonio and the Miami Heat.

The broadcast brought in 7.2 million viewers despite the heavy competition. Not only basketball was on last night, but the season finale of the worldwide sensation, HBO’s Game of Thrones.

As reported by Variety, Nielsen rankings indicate that the show had over one million more viewers than it did last year, which finished with six million viewers. This is the largest audience since 2009 in which 7.4 million tuned in to watch.

Neil Patrick Harris has had excellent reviews as the show’s MC, and one could credit his stellar performance for the bumped up numbers in the ratings war between networks.

“Due to the nature of live programming the ratings for ABC (NBA Finals) and CBS (The Tony Awards) are approximate and subject to more than the typical adjustments in the final numbers,” according to TVbythenumbers.

This means we might see an even bigger bump in when the final tally comes in. Whichever the case, the show was a great success and everyone is talking about Harris’ performance.

This was Harris’ fourth year hosting the ceremony which awards the best of the best in the Broadway scene.

Last night’s CBS Tony Awards saw the musical Kinky Boots taking home a total of six Tonys including Best Musical, Original Score, Performance by An Actor, and Choreography among others.

Cindy Lauper, who wrote the music and lyrics was very emotional while accepting the awards for her musical:

“OK, I can’t say I wasn’t practicing in front of the shower curtain for a couple of days for this speech.” she said barely holding back tears while accepting the Best Original Score Tony. “I gotta thank my mom for sharing all that wonderful music. I wrecked all her Broadway musicals when I was a kid, the cast albums. That’s how I learned how to sing.”

This was the 67th edition of the Tony Awards on CBS. What did you think of the show?

[Image via Igor Bulgarin / Shutterstock.com]