*UPDATE: The final numbers are in and the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards tumbled 33% in the demo to an all-time low of a 1.6 and it fell under 10 million viewers for the first time with 6.9 million viewers tuning in (down 32%).
Television had a lot to celebrate last night at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards but this morning Fox, which aired the awards show, won’t be celebrating much if the early ratings for the ceremony are any indication.
The big problem is that the Emmys moved back to Sunday which means it was in direct competition with football, which has seen good ratings since the season began three weeks ago. The ceremony was up against the Rams vs. the Cleveland Browns match-up on NBC which has resulted in an all-time low for the telecast. The 5.7/10 in metered-market results means the Emmys snared its lowest rating for the annual ceremony in early metrics – coming off successive years of new lows in an age of award shows that have been plagued with ratings issues.
The Emmys took a play from this year’s Oscars ceremony and went without a host, something that resulted in a ratings rise for The Academy Awards. In the case of the Emmys, ratings were down 23% from last year’s Monday evening ceremony on September 18, 2018. Comparing it to the last time the ceremony aired on a Sunday, the ratings are down a heftier 30% from the Sunday telecast that aired on September 17, 2017.
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards ended up with a then low of 10.172 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49. The Stephen Colbert hosted Sunday broadcast 69th Primetime Emmy Awards matched the previous year’s then all-time low of 11.38 million viewers tuning in and what was then a demo low of a 2.5 rating. Given the early metric ratings, last night’s Emmy Awards may see numbers similar to the last time the awards show aired on Fox, with about 11.9 million people tuning in. The post will be updated with the final numbers as they come in.
