The return to its usual September schedule helped give the Emmy Awards a significant boost in television ratings.
Sunday’s show, hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy on ABC, averaged a 6.87 in Nielsen’s national quick ratings, including out-of-home viewing. That’s a 54 percent jump from the postponed 2023 awards, which drew 4.46 million viewers, an all-time low for the awards (at least in the 35-40 year history of total viewership records). The 2023 Emmys aired on Fox in January, four months later than usual after last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes.
Sunday's broadcast also earned a 1.02 rating among adults 18-49, up 17 percent from last year's low.
The Emmys struggled in the ratings even before the COVID-19 pandemic caused lows across the awards shows. While the Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globes have since recovered (though not to their previous highs), the Emmys broadcast hasn’t averaged more than 8 million viewers since 2018 and has only topped 7 million once since then, on CBS in 2021. The show averaged 11.19 million viewers over the four-year period from 2015 to 2018.
Sunday's Emmys improvement snaps a streak of two consecutive ceremonies (on NBC in 2022 and on Fox in January) in which the awards posted all-time lows in both total viewers and the adults 18-49 demographic. Both shows aired Monday nights in front of a larger-than-usual NFL audience on ABC; this year's telecast also aired in front of a game on NBC. Sunday Night Footballbut it was a matchup (Houston vs. Chicago) that is not likely to draw a disproportionate crowd. Ratings for SNF will be available on Tuesday.
The Biggest Emmy Winners, Produced by FX Shogun AND The bearwere also quite popular. The former spent 10 weeks among Nielsen's most popular streaming shows (in addition to airing on FX's cable channel). Both The bearLast year's Emmy-winning second season and this summer's third season also had multi-week reruns in the ratings.
Elsewhere Sunday, CBS's 57th season 60 minutes opened with 10.2 million viewers (based on preliminary Nielsen data) after an NFL doubleheader. That number will likely rise a bit in the final same-day ratings, but it will trail the 11.8 million viewers who watched last season's opener.