This year’s edition of the star-studded Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has proved to be a winner.
The 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade scored a stunning 28 million viewers throughout its multi-hour run, according to Deadline.
That makes this the most-viewed year in the parade’s history.
This year featured high-profile performances from singers including Cher and Jessie James Decker, while stars including Jimmy Fallon and Good Burger’s Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell were featured on floats.
The parade also featured some attention-grabbing moments when pro-Palestinian protestors briefly managed to halt the event after they glued themselves to Sixth Avenue and covered themselves in fake blood to protest Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.
It’s a hit! The 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which featured standout performances from stars including Cher (pictured), scored a stunning 28 million viewers, its most ever
Strong showing: The 28M viewers were spread across NBC’s live show, the 2–5 p.m. encore and streaming on Peacock. The parade had a 7.2 rating in the 18–49 demo, according to Deadline
The 28 million viewers for this year were spread across all platforms, including viewers who tuned into NBC live during the parade.
The affair went on from 8:30 a.m. until noon this year, which was half an hour longer than last year’s parade, allowing for more people to tune in.
However, the average audience was still higher than the previous year, indicating that the new viewers were spread throughout the event.
More viewers tuned in when the parade aired an encore broadcast from 2 to 5 p.m., and other streamed it via NBC’s Peacock service.
According to the publication, the Thanksgiving parade scored a 7.2 rating in the coveted 18-49 demo.
The event seems to be more popular than ever with those who couldn’t attend in person, as both the viewership level and the demographic rating were up by six percent compared to the 2022 edition.
The live broadcast of the parade earned the vast majority of total viewers (22.3 million), along with a 5.3 rating in the same demographic, making it the most-watched entertainment program for 2023 so far across all of television, as well as the highest-rated in that demographic.
The parade was also the most-watched and highest-rated program since the the 2021 edition.
Sky high: Both the viewership level and the demographic rating were up by six percent compared to the 2022 edition; Jessie James Decker is seen with husband Erick Decker
Stellar: The live broadcast’s 22.3M viewers made it the most-watched entertainment program for 2023 so far across all of television; Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell promote Good Burger 2
‘We’re absolutely thrilled that a record number of people were able to enjoy the parade with their families and friends, and spend the day with us,’ said Jen Neal, Executive Vice President for Live Events and Specials at NBCUniversal Media Group, via a statement.
‘We take great pride in bringing the best holiday programming to our audience — across both NBC and Peacock — and there’s no better way to bring in the season than with balloons, marching bands, musical performances and a tradition like no other. A big thank you to Macy’s for being such great partners on this iconic event,’ she added.
This year’s Thanksgiving day parade also has the distinction of being the best-performing simulcast event on Peacock, and it blew away the performance of the 2022 parade on the app by more than doubling its viewership.
The National Dog Show, which aired just after the Macy’s parade, also seemed to benefit from the sky-high ratings, as it was watched by 11.9 million people, representing an eight percent increase.
