I see this from Yahoo News. I haven't looked around to see if anybody else is carrying the story. Never trust one source.

QUOTE:
The ACM Awards hit an all-time low in the key adults 18-49 demographic with its 54th annual ceremony, broadcast on CBS Sunday night, which also pulled in the event’s lowest total-viewer tally in 12 years.The Reba McEntire-hosted awards show put up a 1.6 rating in the advertiser-coveted demo for the evening — its lowest on record — and brought in 9.903 million viewers, which is the smallest overall-eyeball count it’s hit since the 2007 ceremony posted 9.275 million.
The ACMs were also down 24 percent in the 18-49 range and 18 percent in total viewers vs. last year’s show.
However, the telecast’s Nielsen numbers still handed CBS first place in both measures for the evening.CBS was first in ratings with a 1.4 rating/7 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 9.8 million, according to preliminary numbers.
Read original story Ratings: ACM Awards on CBS Fall to All-Time Low in Key Demo At TheWrap.
END QUOTE.


So, if I'm reading it right the 'market', the young people with money in their pockets for music, didn't tune in as fans. They may be buying product, streaming, downloads, hard copy CD's, vinyls. I don't know. They may be buying tickets. I don't know. But as 'fans', wanting to see their favorite singers/players in the Country Music biz, they tuned out.
Spring is here. It was awfully nice out in many places and, "Little Darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter." Maybe they opted to just 'be' somewhere else.
There are "Fifty-seven channels and nothin' on," so maybe they watched the nothin' on some other channel.

But...maybe...just maybe...the music just isn't 'hooking' them. And so they're keeping their money in their pockets, or, horror of horrors, spending it elsewhere, terror of terrors, on some other genre of music.

I just wonder what the real reason is for 'staying away in droves'. You can bet lots of people for whom marketing country music is their profession, they're scratching their heads trying to get the wheels turning to figure out why, and planning what to do about it.

My advice: Make better music. Not that what they played last night wasn't any good. I couldn't hear the vocals well enough to get the words. But that may be just me. All music is hit and miss with audiences. But I think the doors are opening again. The Artist & Repertoire man/woman is coming out of the office, going out to venues, listening to music, trying to find authentic Songs by authentic Songwriters, trying to find new artists with a product those 18-49'ers will mine gold for. The competition is on. Everybody better step up their game or next year the story may be a rerun, 58 channels, and nothin' on.

if singles are what folks are looking for,then write 12 great singles and put them on an album,no filler,all killer.Don't get lazy.