After a two-year hiatus, the American Music Awards will return in 2025 with several changes. The ceremony is set to take place on Memorial Day, May 26, instead of its previous fall schedule. It will also move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and will air on CBS for the first time, with streaming available on Paramount+. The show will be broadcast live across all time zones at 8 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. PT.
The AMAs’ new Memorial Day broadcast date will include a tribute to U.S. troops, though specific details, including the venue, host, and performers, have yet to be announced. CBS had previously signaled the show’s return with a 50th Anniversary Special in October 2024, marking the network’s first AMA-related broadcast since acquiring the rights. The special drew higher ratings than the last AMAs broadcast on ABC in 2022.
Before its hiatus, the AMAs aired annually in the fall, with the last regular edition taking place on November 20, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. That broadcast, hosted by Wayne Brady, recorded a 0.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.53 million total viewers, the lowest in the show’s history. In early 2023, reports emerged that the AMAs would go on pause, with uncertainty over whether ABC would renew its deal. Meanwhile, the Billboard Music Awards, another production under Dick Clark Productions, took over the AMAs’ previous fall slot.
The AMAs were created in 1974 by Dick Clark for ABC after the network lost the Grammys to CBS. Initially airing in January or February, the show shifted to the Thanksgiving season in 2003, a schedule it maintained until 2022. With its move to Memorial Day, the AMAs aim to reestablish themselves in the awards season while adapting to a new network and audience.
