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The last few years have been unique - one way to put it - for big, annual events. 2020 saw a completely scaled-back Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade without the walls of people lining the streets of New York because of the pandemic. 2021 saw normalcy start to creep back into this time-honored tradition and finally in 2022 we got to watch the Thanksgiving parade in all its glory, so how does that reflect in the ratings? The first parade was in 1924 and NBC has been broadcasting it since 1953. A lot has changed over the decades, not just including the character balloons and talented lineup. Its popularity has endured even when the parade had to go under now and again, most recently for the pandemic and decades ago because of World War II. Fortunately, it is still flourishing against the odds. Check out the numbers here. These are the ratings for the 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The parade continued its tradition of drawing in millions of spectators / YouTube The Nielsen ratings for the 2022 Thanksgiving parade show the event reached a 7.2 among viewers in the 18-to-49 demographic. 27.7 million viewers watched it either in realtime, over streaming, or during the encore broadcast. Overall coverage brought in 22.3 million viewers. These along with an additional rating of 5.5 rating reported by TV Insider has made the 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade NBC's highest-rated and most-watched entertainment program of the year, especially within that demographic! RELATED: Mariah Carey Will Open For Santa During Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Performance Ahead of the parade, it was expected three million people would flock to the streets of New York to watch the procession in person. Marching bands, balloons, and floats began their journey at the Upper West Side and made their way to Macy's flagship store at Herald Square. New, old, and missing faces Al Roker missed the parade for the first time in years / YouTube screenshot The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has a big assortment of traditions and ways of freshening things up. Today anchors have hosted and provided commentary for the parade over the decades. That typically includes Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker in the lineup. Together, they also oversee the ribbon-cutting ceremony. However, this year, Dylan Dreyer filled in for Roker, who was out for medical reasons related to blood clots. The 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade drew in high ratings for NBC / YouTube screenshot As American Entertainment notes, this is the first time in decades Roker has missed reporting on the parade. In light of his health concerns, his wife and fellow journalist Deborah Roberts asked for prayers. Thankfully, he was discharged in time to spend the holiday with his family, for which he was thankful. Did you tune in to watch the parade or head to the streets of New York to see it in person? View this post on Instagram A post shared by Al Roker (@alroker)