While it was great to see some of the best shows on TV awarded on Sunday, The 72nd “virtual” Emmy Awards telecast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, hit all-time TV ratings low at 6.1 million U.S. viewers, a decline from last year’s 6.9 million viewers. You would think that an awards show would be a nice change for stuck-at-home audiences.
While the decline in ratings is concerning, the Emmy telecast is not alone in becoming increasingly irrelevant to casual audiences over the past few years. This past February’s Academy Awards telecast dropped 43% from 41.7 million viewers in 2010 to 23.6 million viewers in 2020.
One of the biggest problems that have aided in the loss of viewers is the lack of content viewed by the casual audience. Similar to the Oscars with its film selections, Many TV shows that get nominated often not among those with the highest-rated shows which may cause a disconnect.