Thousands are gathered at New York's Time Square in the last hour of 2012 to watch the annual ball drop.

Locals and tourists are celebrating the coming new year, with millions of viewers watching the event. Watch the live stream of the annual ball drop in the video below.

The streets closed at 3:00 p.m. EST earlier today, preparing for the crowds that have rolled in to celebrate the New Year.

NBC will have its own show hosted by Carson Daly. The late night show host will begin his coverage of the event at 7:00 p.m. EST. There will also be a musical performance from Grammy award winning group Train and recent winner of "The Voice," Cassadee Pope.

This year, ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" will be hosted by Ryan Seacrest who will take over for the former titular host who passed away earlier this year. According to The Stir, Seacrest will introduce musical performances by Taylor Swift, Neon Trees, Carly Rae Jepsen and South Korean rapper PSY singing his hit "Gangnam Style."

At 11:59 p.m., the sixty second countdown will start being led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The mayor and the Radio City Rockettes will push the Waterford crystal button that prompts the descent of the New Year's Eve Ball, and lead the crowd in the final countdown.

The dazzling crystal ball takes sixty seconds to descend 70 feet. A geodesic sparkling sphere, the ball is twelve feet in diameter, weighs 11,875 pounds, is covered with 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles, and lit by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs.

There is also a Times Square Ball App that will allow mobile users to watch the event from their phones.

The big night ends when the ball drops marking the arrival of 2013.