The lights were bright, the stars were in attendance, but the audience was scarce as the latest telecast of the Emmy Awards hit a historic low, drawing in a meager 4.3 million viewers. Fox network, which aired the prestigious event, saw the numbers fall drastically from the previous year’s low of 5.9 million viewers when the Emmys were broadcast on NBC. Hosted by Anthony Anderson, the show gathered Hollywood’s finest to witness the ascent of “Succession” and “The Bear,” which secured some of the most coveted awards of the night.
Nielsen company’s report on Tuesday reflected a gloomy trend for what was once considered television’s most glamourous night. The ceremony, traditionally held in September, was postponed by four months due to strikes by Hollywood writers and actors. The delay forced it to vie for viewers’ attention against a nail-biting NFL playoff game and comprehensive coverage of the Iowa caucuses, heating up the presidential campaign trail.
In comparison to the CBS’s Golden Globes telecast just eight days earlier, which snagged the attention of 9.4 million viewers, the Emmy’s audience was less than half. The Golden Globes, celebrating achievements in both cinema and television and bolstered by high-profile attendees like Taylor Swift, clearly had the upper hand in the ratings race.
The production of the Emmy’s shone a spotlight on television’s illustrious past, incorporating reunions and set recreations from timeless shows such as “Cheers,” “Martin,” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Despite the generally positive critical reception, with Variety heralding the event as “delightful” and The Hollywood Reporter lauding its “polish, proficiency, and emotion,” the positive reviews did little to incentivize a larger audience.
This disappointing outcome for the Emmys continues a pattern of diminishing viewership. The 2020 event, marked by the harrowing pandemic restrictions, featured no live audience and nominees tuning in remotely. This format set a new low at the time with 6.1 million viewers. Hope of a rebound surfaced with CBS’s broadcast the following year, which attracted 7.4 million viewers. Regrettably, the decline resumed with pace in 2022.
The four major broadcast networks—ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox—share the responsibility of airing the Emmys in a rotational fashion. This scheme has not remedied the consistently shrinking interest as the numbers attest. One has to look back to 2018 for the last time the Emmys’ audience surpassed 10 million, an occasion that saw 10.2 million viewers tune in. Casting a shadow over this is the year 2000, when the show garnered a massive 21.8 million viewers. In light of the current trajectory, it seems implausible for the Emmy Awards to recapture such audience levels.
Industry experts speculate on various factors contributing to this downward spiral, from the diversification of media consumption to the onslaught of competing entertainment options available through streaming and digital platforms. What is clear, though, is that the format and allure of the Emmy Awards may need a significant revamp to recapture the hearts and eyes of the modern viewer.
As the television landscape morphs and evolves, the Emmy Awards find themselves at a crossroads, needing to adapt or risk further decline. Only time will tell if they can implement the necessary changes to once again rise to prominence and celebrate television excellence with the viewership numbers to match.
