Where to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve: TV channels, streaming options, performers, more
2025 is only hours away and celebrations to welcome the new year have kicked off.
New York City's Times Square, one of the world's most popular spots to ring in the new year, is ready for the celebrations. Rapper Pitbull unveiled the New Year’s Eve Ball for 2025 on Friday and installed the final crystals.
New Year's festivities are set to be broadcast on a variety of TV networks, including CBS, CNN and ABC.
Final preparations for the event took place Monday as organizers conducted a test run by illuminating the ball and sending it up the 139-foot pole atop One Times Square. Earlier on Sunday, organizers released multicolored confetti from the Planet Fitness Center Stage in "preparation for the release of 3,000 pounds of confetti at midnight on New Year’s Eve," Times Square said.
This year's Waterford Crystal ball is a geodesic sphere covered with 2,688 crystal triangles and measuring 12 feet in diameter. It weighs 11,875 pounds and has more than 32,000 LED lights. The ball "is capable of displaying a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns that creates the spectacular kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square," Times Square said.
While AccuWeather meteorologists have predicted a rainy New Year's Eve in New York, it's not expected not to dampen any of the celebrations too much.
Here's what to know about the annual Times Square tradition and how to watch on TV and streaming.
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What is the New Year's Eve ball drop?
On New Year's Eve, a massive shimmering ball will be lowered at Times Square in New York City to kick off the new year.
Though the ball drop tradition at Times Square began in 1907, New Year’s Eve celebrations at the iconic venue were first held in 1904. Seven versions of the ball have been designed over the years. The first ball, measuring 5 feet in diameter and weighing 700 pounds, was made of iron and wood and was covered with 100 25-watt light bulbs. It was made by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, according to the Times Square official website.
When is the ball drop?
The Times Square Ball Drop celebration will kick off shortly before 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 and the New Year's Eve Ball will be raised to the top of the pole at One Times Square. At exactly 11:59 p.m., the ball will make its 60-second descent down the flagpole to signal the start of the new year.
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Who is performing at Times Square on New Year's Eve?
The Times Square New Year celebrations will include performances by rock legend Lenny Kravitz, Mark Ambor, Grammy-nominated country singer Mickey Guyton, Carrie Underwood, Megan Moroney, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the Jonas Brothers, TLC, Greeicy, De La Ghetto, Kapo, and the dance group AGNEW, among others.
Underwood will perform just before the ball drops at midnight with a medley of some of her biggest hits, followed by Guyton, who then perform the special Times Square New Year tradition of singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” moments before the ball drop.
How to watch the Times Square ball drop
While multiple broadcasting corporations will be airing the New Year's Eve celebrations live on their TV channels and streaming platforms (details below) audiences can also catch the live webcast on Times Square's official website starting 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
"Enjoy commercial-free, webcast coverage of the festivities leading up to the Ball Drop at midnight, including backstage access, behind-the-scenes stories and interviews with performers and other celebrities," Times Square says on its website.
A livestream with open captions and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will also be available on YouTube.
How to watch New Year's Eve on CNN
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen will return for the eighth consecutive year as co-hosts of CNN’s "New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen" and will host the show live from Times Square.
The show will begin at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 31. Guests include 50 Cent, live from his residency in Las Vegas, Sting, Meghan Trainor, Shania Twain, Diplo, Lil Jon and Patti LaBelle. Comedians Whitney Cummings, Amy Sedaris, Sasheer Zamata, Ziwe and Adam Devine also will be part of the show.
The new year show will stream live on Max for subscribers and on CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps for pay TV subscribers.
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How to watch New Year's Eve on CBS
CBS will air "Nashville's Big Bash," hosted by Keith Urban and "Entertainment Tonight" journalist Rachel Smith. The show, scheduled to air live on Tuesday, Dec. 31, will begin at 8 p.m. ET/PT and will go on till 10 p.m. before taking a half-hour break and resuming at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and going on till 1:30 a.m.
The show will air on the CBS Television Network and will also be available to stream on Paramount+.
Country star Dustin Lynch and WCBS-New York weather anchor Lonnie Quinn "will count down with the East Coast at midnight ET for New York’s Ball Drop," CBS said in a news release.
Watch 'Nashville's Big Bash': Subscribe to Paramount+
How to watch New Year's Eve on ABC
Ryan Seacrest, who is marking his 20th year as host, will host "Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025" on ABC live from New York City. Rita Ora will join him as co-host, and Carrie Underwood is set to perform just before midnight. Other performers include the Jonas Brothers, Alanis Morissette, Reneé Rapp, Dasha, Fat Joe, Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh, Ernest, HARDY, Kesha, Laufey, Natasha Bedingfield, and T-Pain.
The show will live on Tuesday, December 31, on ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET and will be available to stream on Hulu the next day.
Watch 'Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025': Subscribe to Hulu
How to watch New Year's Eve on NBC
NBC will not be doing any live programming this year and will instead air recorded specials with “TODAY’s" Hoda Kotb, Jenna Bush Hager and Seth Meyers, among others.
New Year's Eve ball drop: 'Proud tradition'
Over the years, the ball witnessed major changes. It went from a 400-pound iron ball in 1920 to a 150-pound aluminum ball with 180 light bulbs in 1955. In 1995, the aluminum ball was upgraded with aluminum skin, rhinestones, and computer controls. The crystal New Year’s Eve Ball, meanwhile, was introduced in 1999 to welcome the new millennium.
Modern LED technology replaced light bulbs in 2007 for the 100th Anniversary of the New Year’s Eve Ball and the next year in 2008, the "permanent Big Ball was unveiled atop One Times Square shining brightly above Times Square throughout the year."
"This proud tradition is now a universal symbol of the New Year," Times Square says, adding that more than a ton of confetti will also be dropped.
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Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.