COUNTRY MUSIC FANS TURN OUT IN FORCE FOR CMA AWARDS

ABC’s coverage of the 47th Annual CMA Awards, which occupied all of primetime for the network on Wednesday night, attracted an average of 16.63 million viewers — up 24 percent from last year, according to TVbytheNumbers.com. The telecast peaked during the 9:00 p.m. half hour with 17.32 million viewers. It appeared to shoot down Fox’s The X Factor, which fell to 4.51 million viewers — and last place between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. The talent contest had been preempted by the baseball playoffs and the World Series for the past month. The last time it aired on a Wednesday was last October 3, when it averaged 7.9 million viewers.