Thanksgiving Day Parade at Macy’s Sets Record Audience for NBC

In its 99th year, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was a powerful show for NBC. A record 28.5 million people watched the New York holiday custom during its Thursday airings on the network and its online sibling Peacock.

More than two-thirds of the 22 million viewers came from the live linear programme on NBC from 8:30 a.m. to noon ET and live streams on Peacock, which provides hope for the parade’s standing as an American institution. A repeat broadcast on NBC from 2 to 5 p.m. ET was seen by little over 5 million people, as well as on-demand streams on Peacock.

In terms of viewers overall and in the adults 18-49 demographic, where it achieved a 7.2 rating, viewership was up 6% from the previous year’s parade on both channels. A 5.3 rating was obtained in the primary demo from live viewing of the parade. For a live show, that’s a solid NFL-level audience. Undoubtedly, the parade this year was enhanced by the much-awaited arrival of Cher, who performed her new Christmas song, “DJ Play a Christmas Song.”

Executive VP of live events and specials for NBCUniversal Media Group Jen Neal said, “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.” “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.”

This year’s parade attracted more viewers overall than the previous record of 25.4 million established in 2021. Due to the COVID outbreak in 2020, which kept people at home and forced the parade to be pre-recorded without crowds, the atypical telecast attracted 25.9 million viewers.

The parade this year was Peacock’s most entertaining NBC programme simulcast to date, according to NBCUniversal statisticians, and it more than doubled the amount of streaming hours compared to the 2022 telecast.