HISTORY OF PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD

EVENT HISTORY


The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognising the people and the work of popular culture, voted on by the general public. The show has been held annually since 1975.  The People's Choice Awards is broadcast on CBS and is produced by Procter & Gamble and Mark Burnett. In Canada, it is shown on Global.

The award show's creator was Bob Stivers, who produced the first show in 1975.  The first awards recognised The Sting as Favorite Picture of 1974, Barbra Streisand as the year's Favourite Film Actress, and John Wayne as its Favourite Film Actor. Ratings for the annual event peaked in 1977, when the third People's Choice Awards attracted 35.3 million viewers who witnessed Farrah Fawcett win the award for Favorite Female TV Star, Star Wars win as the Favorite Picture, and Streisand and Wayne win again in the Film Actress and Actor categories.

Procter & Gamble, the show's only sponsor, bought the show from Stivers in 1982. Apart from the required local advertising and network promotional time, all advertising during the awards show is solely by P&G brands.

The award categories have varied over the years. For example, the 16th People's Choice Awards had categories including Favorite All-Around Movie (Batman), and both a Favorite Movie Actor (Tom Cruise) and a World Favorite Movie Actor (Dustin Hoffman). At the 23rd People's Choice Awards, Rob Reiner was named the People's Choice Awards Honoree. More recently, the 32nd People's Choice Awards (broadcast in January 2006) included categories such as Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers), Favorite Leading Lady (Reese Witherspoon), Favorite Tour (U2), and an award named after a Procter & Gamble brand: Nice 'n Easy Fans Favorite Hair (Faith Hill).