CMT Sets Ratings Record With Music Awards Show

CMT's June 9 premiere of the 2010CMT Music Awards set a network viewership record for an awards event, drawing 3 million viewers.
The show, hosted by Kid Rock, also averaged 1.42 million viewers in the network's key 18-49 demo, up 19% over last year's event, according to network officials.

Overall, more than 10.8 million cumulative viewers tuned into all related CMT Music Awards programming, including the live Red Carpet show and encore presentations. CMT is currently streaming the full show on its website (www.cmt.com)

The 2010 CMT Music Awards show featured performances from such top country music performers as Jamey Johnson, Toby Keith, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, LeAnn Rimes, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban with John Mayer and the Zac Brown Band.

American Idol alum Underwood won top honors during the show, taking home both the Video Of The Year award  and the CMT Performance Of The Year Award. Lady Antebellum (pictured) took home honors for top group video, while Lambert and Urban won best female and male video awards respectively.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.