Despite a move to Monday night by NBC, the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards hit a new ratings low according to early numbers released this morning.
The broadcast snagged a 7.4/13 result in metered market ratings. This would mean the ceremony was down 10% from last year’s Stephen Colbert fronted show on September 16, 2017, on CBS. By moving to Monday, the show didn’t have to compete with Sunday Night Football but this didn’t seem to matter. A part of me thinks many were still confused by the move to Monday night since award shows tend to air on Sundays. The live show also competed with Monday Night Football and while those ratings aren’t as strong as Sunday Night Football, it’s still strong competition.
NBC last aired the Emmys in 2014 and in comparison to that show, the drop is a steeper 32% in metered market ratings. The 2014 Emmys were the last time the broadcast did better than 12 million viewers, with 15.59 million eyes watching the Seth Meyers fronted ceremony. In the final numbers, last year’s Emmys hit 11.8 million viewers and a 2.5 rating among adults 18-49. That translated into matching the previous viewership low of the Jimmy Kimmel hosted 2016 Emmys and a new low among the key demographic. According to these early metered market ratings, it would suggest that the final numbers for the 2018 show will come in lower than that.
