Update: Final Golden Globe numbers still see a multi-year viewership low

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

UPDATE: The final numbers are in for the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards and while the numbers ticked up a bit from the early ratings, they still represent a multi-year low. The ceremony drew a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The demo score is up from the early 1.2 demo rating but it's still an all-time low in the demo for the Globes. The 6.9 million viewers is also an improvement from the 5.42 million viewers from the early numbers but it represents the sharpest decline in total viewers for the Hollywood Foreign Press ceremony since 2008.

Award ceremonies were already hurting for viewership in recent years but the last year has been especially hard for events that have gone virtual in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's hard to maintain the illusion of glitz and glam during a remotely staged ceremony and now Sunday's Golden Globe Awards represents the latest example of viewership woes as ratings crashed hard to a multi-year low for the pandemic-era version of the ceremony.

Fast national ratings, which still need to be time-zone adjusted so they could change a little bit once the final numbers are released, show that NBC's broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards averaged 5.42 million viewers and a 1.2 in the key 18-49 demo. If these ratings hold, both numbers will represent a drop of more than 60 percent from the preliminary numbers of the 2020 ceremony (14.76 million viewers, 3.8 demo rating).

Showing how much the numbers could change in the finals, the 2020 Golden Globes registered 18.33 million viewers and a 4.7 rating in the 18-49 demo. The 2020 ceremony had the benefit of airing in early January following an NFL playoff game. The early numbers for Sunday's ceremony, which doesn't include viewing of the live show in the Pacific time zone or any out-of-home viewing, will tick up in the finals but it won't be nearly enough to get them out of having the distinction of this multi-year low. Final numbers will be adjusted in this story as they become available. 

The Golden Globes hasn't had an audience this small since 2008 and that is when the writer's strike canceled a traditional airing of the ceremony. A televised press conference announcing the winners drew a little over 6 million viewers. Adding insult to injury, the Golden Globes wasn't even the most-watched show on Sunday night. 60 Minutes of CBS pulled in 7.92 million viewers, followed by The Equalizer on the same network with 7.58 million viewers, and ABC is also ahead of the Globes in the early numbers with American Idol drawing 6.47 million viewers.

The decline of the Golden Globe Awards keeps the recent trend of steady declines for award shows ongoing. In the past six months, the CMA Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, and American Music Awards have all fallen 30 percent in total viewers. The Primetime Emmy Awards in September also declined by 9 percent in viewers and 23 percent in the 18-49 demographic.

A part of me wonders if award season should've been put off or seriously reconsidered in the wake of the pandemic. Virtual ceremonies lack the interest of a normal ceremony and there is an argument to be made that, despite a surge in PVOD and streaming viewing in the last year, a lot of people haven't seen a lot of the films that are being considered. This is usually true during a normal year and I imagine it's especially true when trips to the movie theater were severely knee-capped during 2020. These low numbers aren't surprising and it has to be making ABC wonder what the outcome will be for the Academy Awards when they air on the network in April.

Are YOU surprised by the decline in ratings for this year's Golden Globe Awards?