Country music stars, industry members, and fans will gather in Las Vegas this evening (March 7) for the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards.
Hosted by global superstar Dolly Parton, alongside co-hosts Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett, the 57th ACM Awards will livestream exclusively on Prime Video at 7 p.m. CT from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. This will mark the first time a major award show has been exclusively livestreamed, and will not include commercial breaks.
“Bringing the ACM Awards to streaming will allow us to innovate the format of the show to make it much more in line with what we know viewers want,” ACM CEO Damon Whiteside tells MusicRow. “The show will be fast-paced with no commercials and will be shorter at a 2-hour run time.
“This will allow us to keep the energy and momentum consistently high throughout the show since there will be wall to wall music and awards with no breaks,” he adds. “At the two-hour run time, we joke that no one will have time to get up to go to the bathroom or the kitchen. Get your snacks and drinks before the show starts as no one will want to miss a minute!”
Contributing to the high energy night will be more than 20 performances from artists, including Breland and Thomas Rhett (“Praise The Lord”); Brothers Osborne (“Skeletons”); Brittney Spencer and Brothers Osborne (“These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”); Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde (“Never Wanted to Be That Girl”); Carrie Underwood; Chris Stapleton (“Watch You Burn”); Chris Young (“Raised on Country”); Chris Young featuring Mitchell Tenpenny (“At the End of a Bar”); Dolly Parton featuring Kelsea Ballerini (“Big Dreams and Faded Jeans”); Eric Church; Gabby Barrett (“Let’s Go to Vegas,” “I Hope You Dance”); Jason Aldean; Jimmie Allen (“Viva Las Vegas,” “Down Home”); Jordan Davis (“Buy Dirt,” feat. Luke Bryan); Kane Brown (“Leave You Alone”); Kelly Clarkson (“I Will Always Love You”); Lady A (“What a Song Can Do”); Luke Bryan (“Up”); Maren Morris (“Circles Around This Town”); Parmalee & Blanco Brown featuring Brooke Eden (“Just the Way”); Thomas Rhett (“Slow Down Summer”); and Walker Hayes (“AA” and “Fancy Like”).
On deck to present tonight are Mickey Guyton, Alan Ritchson (actor, Reacher), Derek Carr (Quarterback, Las Vegas Raiders), Guy Torry (comedian, Phat Tuesdays), James Patterson (author, Run Rose Run), Kelsey Asbille (actor, Yellowstone), Luke Grimes (actor, Yellowstone), and Tom Pelphrey (actor, Outer Range).
In addition to the perk of eliminating commercials, the ACM’s partnership with Amazon also means a more global reach and more opportunities for interesting activations. Slated for tonight is an ACM Awards Red Carpet Show on Prime Video; an interactive version of the pre-show on the Amazon Homepage, the ACM Awards Storefront, Amazon Fashion homepage, and the Amazon Live homepage; a red carpet livestream on TikTok conducted by Amazon Fashion, and more.
“Since the show streams live worldwide in over 230 countries and territories, fans from coast to coast and around the world will be able to watch all of the action in real time vs delayed viewing,” Whiteside adds. “The on-demand version of the show will feature Prime Video’s X-ray technology which will make the program shoppable at the touch of a button.”
So far, the Academy of Country Music has announced two early wins. On Friday (March 4), Parker McCollum and Lainey Wilson were named this year’s New Male and New Female Artist of the Year, respectively.
Tonight, more winners will be named at the 57th Academy of Country Music. See the full list of nominees here.
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