Grammys show suffers ratings dive

The Grammys featured a duet from James Brown and Usher

Television ratings for the Grammy awards ceremony in the US have fallen to their lowest levels in ten years.

An estimated 18.8 million people watched Sunday night's show on the CBS network- a drop of 28% on 2004.

Hit comedy Desperate Housewives pulled in more viewers than the Grammys, despite star performances, including a duet between James Brown and Usher.

Few people switched to the Grammys when the ABC show finished, according to ratings analyst Nielsen Media Research.

The figures were the second lowest since Nielsen began recording Grammy audience ratings.

General trend

The fall came despite recent efforts to increase the amount of live performances at the ceremony by cutting back on awards presentations.

The drop in viewing numbers reflects a general trend of declining interest in awards shows, which some industry experts put down to awards ceremony overload.

In autumn 2004, the Emmys received their lowest audience to date and this January the Golden Globes drew its smallest audience since returning to broadcast television in 1996, with figures dropping 10 million on the previous year.

Figures for the American Music Awards in November were almost a quarter of their total twenty years ago, down to 12.9 million from 48 million.

The highest-rated awards ceremony is the Oscars which peaked in 1998 when the epic Titanic swept the board, with an audience of 55 million.