How to Stream Times Square New Year’s Eve 2018 Celebration Live Online

Todd Spangler
Updated

Here’s how to live-stream the Times Square New Year’s Eve festivities — including the iconic ball drop and musical performances by Mariah Carey, Andy Grammer and others — even if you don’t have a television or pay-TV service.

The official Times Square 2018 webcast will kick off at 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 31, 2017, and end at 12:15 a.m. ET on Jan. 1, 2018.

The ninth annual New Year’s Eve live-stream from New York City will be available free worldwide on multiple websites, including TimesSquareNYC.org, Livestream.com/2018 and TimesSquareBall.net. In addition, it will be streamed on Facebook (facebook.com/TimesSquareNYC) and Twitter (twitter.com/TimesSquareNYC).

The Times Square 2018 webcast also will be available on Android and Apple iOS mobile devices via the official Times Square Ball App. The six-hour live programming event is being streamed by Vimeo’s Livestream.

The evening’s lineup — book-ended by the Ball Raising at 6 p.m. ET and the Ball Drop at midnight — will feature live musical performances, hourly countdowns, behind-the-scenes features, and celebrity interviews. Pushing the button at 11:59 p.m. to drop the world-famous Waterford crystal ball will be special guest Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, joining New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to lead the 60-second countdown to ring in 2018.

Typically, a crowd of around 1 million revelers descends on New York City’s Times Square on Dec. 31. But frigid temperatures in the Big Apple — with the wind chill expected to be near or below zero — may suppress turnout on one of the city’s coldest New Year’s Eves on record.

The Times Square 2018 live performances are scheduled to include:

  • Mariah Carey, Sugarland, Camila Cabello, and Nick Jonas on ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest”

  • Andra Day and Neil Diamond on Fox’s “New Year’s Eve with Steve Harvey”

  • Andy Grammer, who just before the Ball Drop at midnight will perform “Honey, I’m Good” and “Good to Be Alive”; his latest single, “Smoke Clears”; and John Lennon’s “Imagine”

  • Lauren Alaina, set to perform “Road Less Traveled,” “What Ifs” and Katy Perry’s “Firework”

  • Chyno Miranda and Leslie Grace with Play-N-Skillz on Univision’s “¡Feliz 2018!”

  • The USO Show Troupe, performing a military salute to the U.S. armed forces

  • The Sino-American Friendship Association, which will present the Tongliang Athletics Dragon Dance from Chongqing, China

Live hourly countdowns on the Times Square 2018 stream will be presented by Fox New Year’s Eve host Steve Harvey, Tarana Burke, Fox News Channel hosts Lisa Kennedy Montgomery and Jesse Watters, and Univision host Raúl de Molina.

The live-stream is produced by the Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment, the co-organizers of Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration. The webcast’s sponsors include Planet Fitness but otherwise the live-stream will run commercial-free.

Returning as the Times Square New Year’s Eve event host for her sixth year is Allison Hagendorf, a television and radio personality who also is global head of rock at Spotify. Jonathan Bennett, star of “Mean Girls” and host of “Cake Wars,” will serve as webcast host for the second year, joined by correspondents Andrea Boehlke and Jeremy Hassell.

The gathering in Times Square on New Year’s Eve continues a tradition that dates back to 1904, when the owners of One Times Square threw the first rooftop celebration on New Year’s Eve. The first ball-drop occurred in 1907.

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