The BET’s annual Hip-Hop and Soul Train Awards are being put on pause indefinitely.
Speaking to Billboard, BET CEO Scott Mills reflected on 45 years of the media channel’s history and changes due to shifts in the entertainment industry. When it comes to the media channel and brand’s linear programming, Mills confirmed: “We have suspended the Soul Train and Hip-Hop award shows.”
He went on to explain that while they don’t currently have plans to bring back the two award shows with immediate urgency, they “have a team that’s actively thinking about where those award shows might best live as the media climate continues to evolve. They aren’t gone.”
The shows’ indefinite pause comes at a challenging time in the industry as more network channels and brands find themselves losing viewerships at a steady rate despite putting on the best programming possible. “I would say that it’s less about them being no longer and more about our team having to reimagine them for this changing media landscape that we find ourselves in,” Mills said.
“I think what we’re going to see are more people taking franchises and saying, ‘This might have started on linear television, but now I’m going to move it to another space. Do I move it to streaming? Or do I move it to another platform?’”
Not to be confused with the BET Hip-Hop awards, the channel’s flagship awards show the BET Awards is still scheduled to proceed sometime in 2026 – a firm date has yet to be announced. The 2025 BET Awards wrapped up in early June, with acts like Kendrick Lamar, SZA and Doechii winning big.
However, the BET Awards isn’t safe from declining viewership either. Scott Mills admitted to Billboard that this year’s viewership from the 18-49 demographic dropped by nearly 50 per cent from 2024.
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“Viewership was down. However, the cable ecosystem is smaller today than it was a year ago. That’s just the reality of it,” Mills said. “It was an extraordinary show. And honestly, I attribute the viewership declines less to the declines in the cable ecosystem and more to the fact that we moved the night of the show.”
The BET Hip-Hop Awards first launched in 2006 and have been since ran annually, and is typically held in October. Meanwhile, the Soul Train Music Awards first premiered in 1987, and has been a cornerstone of the awards show circuit in America. Concerns that the award show was first struggling became noticeable last year, when the BET skipped the ceremony without any notice.
Additionally, the official social media accounts for the Soul Train Music Awards have not been active dating back to March last year. It is typically held in November.
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