Grammy Awards Draw Lowest TV Audience Since 2009

According to Nielsen, 19.8 million people watched the Grammys. Last year’s broadcast averaged 26.1 million viewers. The last time the Grammys attracted fewer than 20 million viewers was in 2009 when it averaged 19 million viewers.

Hosted by

James Corden,

host of CBS’s “The Late Late Show,” the show featured performances by

Bruno Mars,

who took home the Grammy for Album of the Year;

Lady Gaga

;

Kendrick Lamar

; and

Pink.

There also was a duet by

Elton John

and

Miley Cyrus.

The show wasn’t short on politics and social issues, as immigration and the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment took center stage. The singer

Kesha,

 who has sued her former producer,

Dr. Luke,

accusing him of years of abuse, performed her song “Praying” with several other stars. Dr. Luke has denied wrongdoing.

The Grammys had taken heat for having few female nominees and winners.

Alessia Cara,

who won Best New Artist, was one of the few female artists to receive an award during the televised program, and some critics were upset that pop star Lorde was the only nominee for Album of the Year who wasn’t allowed to give a solo performance.

Asked by Variety about the dearth of female honorees,

Neil Portnow,

the president of the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, said: “It has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level to step up.”

He added: “I think it’s upon us as an industry to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists.”

By Monday morning, his “step up” remark had sparked a backlash on social media, with many posts that included the hashtag #GrammysSoMale.

“Who will young girls be inspired by to pick up a guitar and rock when most every category is filled with men?” singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow wrote on Twitter. “I’m not sure it is about women needing to “step up” (as said by the male in charge).”

Some observers believe the ratings drop-off is tied to the broader challenges facing televised live-music events. “With the multitude of direct-access channels to artists and entertainment performances these days, linear television is going to be a little challenged,” said

Joe Rapolla,

director of the music-industry program at Monmouth University. “The Grammy Awards are a very exciting production and still the highest-rated music program on television.”

The Recording Academy on Monday referred a request for comment to CBS, which issued a statement calling the Grammy Awards “the most-watched prime-time entertainment program on any network since the Feb. 26, 2017 Oscar telecast.”

During the show Sunday, there were also clips of celebrities and

Hillary Clinton

reading aloud from the book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” The former presidential candidate read a section about President

Donald Trump’s

fondness for

McDonald’s

food.

That segment didn’t play well with everyone. United Nations Ambassador

Nikki Haley

tweeted, “I have always loved the Grammys but to have artists read the ‘Fire and Fury’ book killed it.”

The Grammys have long been criticized for the lack of diversity in its nominees, something it attempted to address this year in part to broaden its audience. Four of the five nominees for Album of the Year, the top prize, were nonwhite hip-hop or R&B acts, while three of the five Best New Artist nominees were women.

One bright spot for CBS was the fact that unique viewers of the Grammys live stream on CBS All Access was up 40% over last year. CBS also said All Access set a record for subscriber sign-ups.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com and Neil Shah at neil.shah@wsj.com