THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW Reaches One Million Subscribers on YouTube

The Ed Sullivan Show has reached another new milestone, having surpassed one million subscribers on its popular YouTube channel as it continues to preserve and showcase the breadth of what the pioneering show had to offer.

For more than two decades, The Ed Sullivan Show was at the epicenter of American culture, with host Ed Sullivan showcasing the very best in music, sports, movies, TV and other world class entertainers and topical personalities every Sunday night to millions of American households. Since 2020, “the really big show” has found an entirely new audience online where its timeless collection of iconic TV moments has amassed more than two and a half billion views across YouTube, Facebook and Apple Music. 

The long-running variety show expanded its reach exponentially via a global digital rights agreement between UMe and SOFA Entertainment Inc., owner of the Sullivan archive, in June 2020. The library encompasses the show’s historic 23-year primetime run on CBS. Scores of rarities have been made available digitally for the first time including renowned entertainers and influential figures from just about every category of cultural relevance, including music, sports, film, dance, opera and Broadway.

The Ed Sullivan Show Official YouTube currently features more than 3,500 videos and adds a new video daily with the eventual goal of making nearly the entire archive available on YouTube and other platforms. As The Ed Sullivan Show ran for 1,087 episodes there are thousands of videos still to come to the channel. 

In honor of Black Music Month, the channel will spotlight GREAT PERFORMANCES from African American artists with a tentpole video premiering every Sunday throughout the month of June. Some highlights include performances by the vocal pop group The Ink Spots, legendary crooner Johnny Mathis and “King of Calypso,” Harry Belafonte.

Ed Sullivan played a quiet yet powerful role in advancing race relations and civil rights by defying social norms and industry pressure to prominently feature Black performers on The Ed Sullivan Show. At a time when segregation was still deeply rooted in American society, Sullivan used his national platform to showcase groundbreaking talents like Nat KING Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, and many others, often giving them their first major television exposure.

Despite being advised not to book Black guests or to limit their screen time, Sullivan stood firm in his commitment to equality and artistic merit, treating all performers with the same respect and giving them the spotlight they deserved. For Sullivan, If you had talent, you were on his show.. His choices not only broke barriers in entertainment but also helped challenge prejudices in American homes, making him an influential ally in the struggle for civil rights.

The Ed Sullivan Show’s showcasing of Motown artists occurred due to the great relationship forged by Motown founder Berry Gordy and Ed Sullivan. It led to one of the most impactful partnerships in music and television history. The Supremes, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, and many more Motown stars became household names and music legends, in large part due to their Sullivan appearances.

Sullivan invited and featured some of the earliest or first televised performances of music superstars, including Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, The Band, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Jackson 5, The Mamas and The Papas, The Supremes, and The Rolling Stones. Many people and critics agree that if it wasn’t for The Ed Sullivan Show, they wouldn’t have been exposed to the musicians who continue to hold their positions as icons today.

Sullivan was also the first to bring COUNTRY MUSIC (Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Dean, Brenda Lee, and Buck Owens) and many key jazz artists (Ella Fitzgerald, Nat KING Cole, Louis Armstrong) to national television viewers. Watch a performance from Diana Ross & The Supremes below.