The Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration will again be a less raucous affair — with limited in-person attendance because of a spike in COVID cases — but you can watch all the festivities and music performances live for free, streaming online.
The six-hour free livestream, presented without ads, will feature live performances by artists including KT Tunstall, Chlöe, Journey and Karol G. The Times Square New Year’s Eve event kicks off at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday with the ball raising — concluding with the 60-second midnight countdown and the famous ball drop from the top of One Times Square.
The Times Square 2022 webcast will be streamed live on multiple websites, including TimesSquareNYC.org, Livestream/2022 and TimesSquareBall.net, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
You can also watch the Times Square New Year’s Eve 2021 webcast right here:
With the alarming rise in COVID cases due to the omicron variant of coronavirus, New York City is capping the number of revelers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve at 15,000, about one-fourth the usual crowd size. Visitors will will be required to show proof of full vaccination and wear masks. Last week, Fox canceled its planned “New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022” show from Times Square, saying that “the recent velocity of the spread of omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards.”
Other networks are still proceeding with their Times Square broadcasts. Those include ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest,” which will air portions of the Times Square events, and CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live With Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.”
Headlining this year’s Times Square New Year’s Eve musical performances is Scottish pop star Tunstall, who is set to perform hit singles “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See,” along with Tom Petty’s classic “I Won’t Back Down.” She also is slated to sing John Lennon’s “Imagine,” continuing the New Year’s Eve tradition, just before the midnight ball drop.
The official opening ceremony will feature a Chinese cultural dance performance from Henan, China, presented by the Sino-American Friendship Association (SAFA). The Times Square 2022 webcast will include a dance performance by actor, comedian and YouTuber Liza Koshy (sponsored by Planet Fitness) and performances by the USO Show Troupe.
Actor and TV personality Jonathan Bennett (Hallmark’s “The Christmas House,” host of Food Network’s “Cake Wars,” “Halloween Wars,” “Holiday Wars”) will return to host the Times Square New Year’s Eve livestream alongside Jeremy Hassell, who has previously served as a street correspondent for the event.
In addition to the main livestream, for the second year, Jamestown, owner of One Times Square, is bringing back its virtual New Year’s Eve experience with the VNYE app (available for iOS, Android and Windows). The app lets viewers tune in for the live broadcast and choose from multiple camera feeds. Wonderama will host an 18-hour live broadcast within VNYE that is slated to include musical performances and appearances from Tony Orlando, Bootsy Collins and Randy Edelman.
The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment are the organizers of Times Square New Year’s Eve. This year marks the 13th annual live webcast of the event, centered on the lowering of the nearly 6-ton ball, which is adorned with 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles and illuminated by 32,256 LEDs, from atop the 26-story One Times Square building.
