The People’s Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing 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 Survivor producer, 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 recognized The Sting as Favorite Picture of 1974, Barbra Streisand as the year’s Favorite Film Actress, and John Wayne as its Favorite 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.
In the 20th century, the awards were based on results from Gallup polls. Each year, Gallup took a survey of different categories for favorite actor, actress, movie, artist, television program or group. The scope was unlimited—the public could choose whomever or whatever it liked. The results of the annual survey were announced in the form of the People’s Choice Awards. Since polls have margins of error, many years’ awards have had ties in at least one category, when Gallup declared that the voting was so close that a single winner could not be chosen.