NBC, Clear Channel Renew iHeartRadio Music Awards For 2015
Thursday's Show-Stopping Three-Hour Live Telecast Brought Top Recording Artists Together for Memorable Inaugural Event
Universal City, Calif — May 6, 2014 — Coming off its highly successful inaugural telecast Thursday night, NBC has announced it will pick up the iHeartRadio Music Awards for 2015.
The iHeartRadio Music Awards, which was presented by Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, was also broadcast on Clear Channel radio stations nationwide and the iHeartRadio digital music platform. The event took place at the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles and paid homage to the City of Angels.
The iHeartRadio Music Awards brought together the top names in music, and included electrifying performances by Shakira, Pharrell Williams, Blake Shelton, Kendrick Lamar, Pitbull and Thirty Seconds to Mars. It also marked the debut of a new Michael Jackson song, "Love Never Felt So Good."
The three-hour telecast on NBC improved by 55% on the network's Thursday night average since the Winter Olympics in the key demographic of adults 18-49 (with a 1.7 rating vs. an average 1.1).
Said USA Today of Thursday's telecast: "The three-hour event was chock-full of showstopping turns from Arcade Fire, Ariana Grande and Thirty Seconds to Mars, to name a few. But rapper Kendrick Lamar may have delivered the evening's most inspired performance with his cover of Tupac Shakur's 'California Love,' tipping his hat to his West Coast roots and bringing nearly the entire auditorium to its feet."
Among the many winners, as chosen by fans using hashtags to cast more than 65 million votes across Facebook and Twitter, were Rihanna for artist of the year, Lorde for best new artist, Rihanna's "Stay" for song of the year and "Demons," from the Imagine Dragons, for alt rock song of the year. The iHeartRadio Music Awards also generated an incredible social footprint: The award show was a dominant social media topic throughout the week of the show, with #iHeartAwards trending No. 1 on Twitter throughout the night.
"We are incredibly proud of last week's show and our collaboration with Clear Channel. We brought together the most relevant musicians of our time for a special and very successful evening and can't wait to do it again," said Paul Telegdy, President, Alternative and Late Night Programming, NBC Entertainment. "Between 'The Voice,' 'Saturday Night Live,' 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon' and our other terrific late night and special programs, we have become the network that attracts music fans of all ages."
"The iHeartRadio Music Awards established some amazing benchmarks in its inaugural year," said John Sykes, President of Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises. "The feedback from artists, music labels, and most importantly, fans and viewers made it clear that the new approach we took in creating a show truly powered by the fans could deliver results."
The iHeartRadio Music Awards were executive produced by John Sykes and Tom Poleman of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, Ryan Seacrest Productions and Ian Stewart and Hamish Hamilton of Done and Dusted Inc., who produced the show for Universal Television. Hamilton served as director.