First-Ever People’s Choice Country Awards Coming to NBC

A new fan-voted country music awards show is coming later this year. The People‘s Choice Awards is expanding with the announcement of the first-ever People‘s Choice Country Awards, to be held in Nashville this September.

The two-hour event will air live on NBC and Peacock, according to Billboard.

“We’re excited to partner with the Grand Ole Opry to bring the year’s biggest celebration in country music to Nashville,” says Cassandra Tryon, Senior Vice President of Live Events for NBCUniversal Television & Streaming. “Country fans are passionate about their music and there’s no better place to host this event than from country music’s biggest stage.”

The People‘s Choice Country Awards will take place on the Grand Ole Opry stage and will allow for a deeper dive into the country music genre than the all-encompassing People‘s Choice Awards, which has traditionally included country music performances and a country music award.

Shania Twain performed at the 2022 People’s Choice Awards show, where she was also honored with the Icon Award. Carrie Underwood took home the trophy for Best Country Artist, beating out Kelsea Ballerini, Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett and Morgan Wallen for the prize.

The new awards show gives NBC a chance to compete with other events like ABC’s CMA Awards, the CMT Music Awards — which air on CBS next month — and the ACM Awards. NBC will also stream the People‘s Choice Country Awards live on its streamer service, Peacock.

Further details about prizes and performers for the show have not been announced. Specifics like a broadcast date, award categories and host(s) are still to come. It’s likely that fan voting will be conducted online, similar to the original People‘s Choice Awards.