Golden Globes Ratings Fall To All-Time Low For NBC In Final Numbers – Update

UPDATED, 7:55 AM: NBC might be wondering this morning if that $60 million-a-year new deal for the Golden Globes it inked back in 2018 is really worth it. Especially this year.

The final numbers are in for the 78th annual Golden Globes, and they are limbo low. Lacking its clearly vital NFL lead-in, the semi-virtual and controversy-mired Tina Fey and Amy Poehler-hosted ceremony snagged a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.9 million viewers on Sunday, according to Nielsen.

More from Deadline

That’s an all-time low in the demo for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association-hosted show and a near-low in viewership. Only the 2008 show, which was a press conference due to the writers strike, did worse in recent times in terms of sets of eyeballs. That Globes pulled in an audience of 6.03 million. The least-watched Globes for NBC ever is the 3.6 million that tuned in back in 1995, one year after the network had the ceremony back again.

As for the 18-49s, the previous low was that 2008 press conference show with its 1.7 result. As far as actual Globes shows, with presenters, ballrooms and all (which the 2021 show had even with Covid-19 safety protocols), the ratings low was the 4.7 that the Ricky Gervais-hosted 2020 show received.

A now perch that the 2021 ceremony fell 68% from.

PREVIOUSLY, MARCH 1 PM: Winners notwithstanding, the obvious shortcomings of the 78th annual Golden Globes on-screen Sunday night were reflected in the ratings for the NBC-broadcast ceremony.

Although the Comcast-owned network doesn’t plan to release final numbers from Nielsen until Tuesday, semi-adjusted fast nationals reveal that the bicoastal show hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler took a hit from last year. And we don’t just mean the worthy whack the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been taking from some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters over the 87-member group’s lack of Black members.

Coming in with a 1.2 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic and about 5.4 million viewers, the 2021 Globes telecast fell about 60% in both categories from the partially adjusted fast national numbers snared last year by the Ricky Gervais-fronted awards show.

The 2020 results rose to 18.3 million viewers and a 4.7 rating in 18-49s in the final Live+Same Day Nielsen numbers special ordered by NBC – numbers that are almost certainly well out of reach of Sunday’s show, adjusted numbers or not.

In their fourth time as co-hosts, SNL alums and chums Fey and Poehler certainly saw their three-hour 2021 appearance drop hard from their previous tour of HFPA duty in the olden times of 2015. That co-host spell of the Obama era was a downturn of 11% in the key demo from Fey and Poehler’s second run MCing the often boozy and loose affair in 2014.

Now, even as these early numbers have all the metrics of an all-time NBC low, let’s be honest, all of these comparisons are a bit apples to avalanches. As with almost everything in Hollywood and the wider world, the pandemic has played havoc with the calendar and the format. Absent much of the atmosphere that gives the Globes its appeal, last night’s glitchy and semi-virtual ceremony also aired nearly two months later than the 2020 show. So, no vital NFL lead-in and little holiday-season spillover, are but two major differences. Additionally, like with the viewership low of the 2020 Emmys, we have seen the Nielsen results of a number of coronavirus-impacted awards shows and other big-ticket events shrink over the past year.

On the flip side, streaming numbers for such events have been on a steady-ish rise, reflective of the way TV is consumed nowadays.

What that will all add up to for NBC when its finally releases cumulative Globes results Tuesday we will have to see – and we will update when those numbers arrive. But, with CBS looking like the Sunday winner right now, if you want to make a bet …

Speaking of the ViacomCBS-owned net, CBS had a total primetime viewership of 6.5 million on Sunday. On a night of new offerings from The Equalizer (7.5 million viewers), NCIS: LA (5.7 million viewers) and NCIS: New Orleans (4.9 million viewers), the winner overall was 7 p.m.’s 60 Minutes with an audience of 7.9 million.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.