How to Watch the CMA Awards: Date, Time, Network, Hosts, and What to Expect
The CMA Awards — officially the Country Music Association Awards — are country music’s most prestigious annual ceremony, and they’ve called Nashville home since the show’s inception in 1967. Broadcast live from Bridgestone Arena each November, the show draws some of the biggest television audiences of any music awards program and typically features performances that become water-cooler moments for weeks afterward.
The 2026 ceremony is scheduled for November in its traditional Bridgestone Arena home in downtown Nashville. The full host announcement and performer lineup are typically revealed in the weeks leading up to the broadcast, though the CMA drops teasers and early booking confirmations throughout the fall as buzz-building strategy.
The show airs live on ABC, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. It streams simultaneously on Hulu for subscribers. The broadcast typically runs three to four hours, with commercial breaks, and the pace tends to be brisk by awards-show standards — country music fans, the CMA has learned over decades, respond better to performances than to long acceptance speeches.
The major categories to watch include Entertainer of the Year (the most coveted award), Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Song of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and the Male and Female Vocalist awards. The New Artist category, in particular, has historically been a reliable predictor of which artists will define the genre’s next five years.
For Nashville visitors, the CMA Awards week turns the entire city into a celebration. Artists host fan events, label showcases, and listening parties throughout the week. Bridgestone Arena’s red carpet, held outside the venue before the show, is open for public viewing. It’s one of the most authentically Nashville experiences the city offers.
