Emmys Rebound Bolsters 2024 Awards Show Ratings

It looks like ABC can exhale and be thankful that two Emmys in one year didn’t result in back-to-back ratings lows.

Just eight months since the 2023 Emmy Awards, which were delayed by months due to the Hollywood strikes, the actual 2024 telecast drew 6.87 million total viewers to ABC last Sunday night, according to Nielsen. That metric is an impressive 54% increase from the rescheduled broadcast, which hit an all-time low of 4.3 million viewers.

The Emmys also have good news coming from the all-important 18-49 demographic, which increased 17% to a 1.02 rating, a bump from last year’s 0.87.

These latest ratings give more credence to the idea that the January Emmys were a victim of bad luck and timing rather than a greater downward trend in viewers. On top of the strikes pushing it several months behind schedule, that ceremony aired just a week after the Golden Globes, which honored many of the same movies and shows, and smack at the same time as the NFL Playoffs and the GOP Iowa caucus.

Even as this latest Emmys happened just nine months to the day after the previous one, featured many of the same nominees as 2023 and was bogged down by awkward sponsored bits, it still managed to bring in the most viewership since 2021 (7.8 million total audience, 1.81 18-49 demo). Interestingly, the Emmys were one of the few awards shows that year seeing a ratings lift, probably because, unlike movies and live music, people watched a lot of TV over the pandemic’s lockdown era.

Looking at pre-pandemic years, total Emmys viewership is up 8% from 2020 (6.4 million) and on par with 2019 (6.98 million) but still down about 38% from the roughly 11.4 million in both 2016 and 2017. The show might still have some climbing to do, but at least it has some much-needed upward momentum out of the ratings rut it was in for the past couple of years.

On the whole, awards show ratings have run the gamut so far this season, as the number of ceremonies on broadcast TV has also decreased in recent years. The Tony Awards in June broke out all the stops to bridge the gap between Broadway’s $100-plus seats and the general public by including more performance footage of nominees and onstage numbers from familiar theater names Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne.

Those efforts ultimately didn’t bear fruit, however, as ratings in total (3.53 million, down 14.3%) and in the 18-49 demographic (0.41, down 10.9%) were both down from the previous year.

The latest Golden Globes and Grammys, meanwhile, both saw healthy ratings boosts this awards season. With the help of some meme-worthy moments, the high tide of Barbenheimer and Taylor Swift’s Eras presence, the HFPA-less Globes enjoyed the largest TV viewership since 2020 (9.4 million, up 49.2% from 2023) and earned Paramount+ its third-all-time largest live digital audience.

The Grammys, coincidentally, also hosted Taylor Swift, who started the night announcing her next album and ending it by nabbing Album of the Year. The singer’s mere presence is enough even to convince Swifities to watch a football game, but the Grammys also had a lot going for it to amass the 16.9 million viewers (up 34% from 2023).

The night’s performers included current-day superstars Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish alongside seldom-seen living legends Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell, giving young and old music fans alike a reason to tune in.

The Oscars, whose well-received and “Ken-etic” (sorry) broadcast itself just won several Emmys, saw more of a mixed bag in terms of ratings. The live + same-day total of 19.5 million marked a third consecutive year of overall audience growth, but the 18-49 demo slipped from 4.0 in 2023 to 3.8 this year.

The Academy Awards have come a long way from its all-time low of 10.4 million total viewers from 2021, but whether it can continue that upward trajectory is currently less than assured.