DISCLAIMER: This article was first published on December 25, 2025
Donald Trump has consistently made it clear over the years that he places great importance on TV ratings. After all, he talks about them a lot more than just about anyone else in the world, whether he’s touting his own high ratings or bashing low ratings for other people.
So, the president isn’t likely to be happy with the early ratings data for this week’s broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors, following Trump’s takeover of the organization, his naming it after himself, and his decision to host the honors himself.
According to New York magazine reporter Josef Adalian, the show “will be least-watched ever and may lose to HIGH POTENTIAL reruns.”
Data is wonky right now with Nielsen’s new “big data” panel. But in prelims, KenCen did just 2.65M. Even with a 25% lift, the show still finishes in the mid-3M range– well below last year. In demos, it’s even more of a massacre– currently at a 0.14, roughly HALF of the 2024 show
— TVMoJoe (@TVMoJoe) December 24, 2025
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“The show was hosted by Donald Trump, and it was a failure on all counts. Producer Robert Deaton treated it like it was the Country Music Awards. Trump pre-taped introductions to the honorees sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office. (Sitting because he can’t stand that long), Showbiz411 reported on the broadcast. “It looked like he was between Big Macs. He was dressed in street clothes.”
Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter said this week that the name change has begun to “cloud” the future of the Kennedy Center’s TV deal, for a broadcast whose ratings had been declining for many years.
🚨JUST IN: CBS’s Kennedy Center Honors just hit an all-time ratings low. Preliminary Nielsen data shows only ~2.65M viewers tuned in to the Trump-hosted show, down from 4.1M in 2024. A stunning 35% year-over-year collapse. pic.twitter.com/45mH1kz01n
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) December 24, 2025
“This will be the final year that the Honors are broadcast on CBS under its current rights deal, and the institution needs to settle its TV future at the same time that it contemplates a revamp of the event,” the report said. “It is not clear if CBS intends to try and renew those rights, but it appears that the Kennedy Center board is gearing up for networks and streaming services to bid on what sounds like a heavily revamped awards show.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
