The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards had the lowest ratings of any ceremony in history in the award show’s history, dropping below six million viewers for the first time ever. Maybe the show needed as much Kel as it did Kenan?
The reported ratings for the Emmy Awards are 5.92 million viewers. This sees a dip from the previous low, 2020’s 6.36 million. 2021’s ceremony fared better but was still quite dismal at 7.83 million viewers.
It should be noted that the Primetime Emmy Awards were moved to Monday, reportedly so Sunday Night Football could air on NBC without conflict. However, this put it in competition with Monday Night Football, which could have played a factor.
The three major awards shows–the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Grammys–have all seen major drops in ratings. Other than the Emmys’ historic slip, last year’s Academy Awards saw its all-time low with 16.6 million viewers, while this year’s Grammys just edged out last year’s 9.2 million viewers.
There was no noticeable jump in ratings at any point during the Emmy Awards, as was the case when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at this year’s Academy Awards. That incident caused a 1.5 million viewer spike. But the Emmys had nothing of such controversy during the show…unless we count Jimmy Kimmel faking being passed out during Quinta Brunson’s acceptance speech.
The big winners on Monday night were Ted Lasso, Succession, and White Lotus, which took home the top honors in their respective categories of Comedy, Drama, and Limited or Anthology Series. The latter two made HBO and HBO Max the most decorated network; they had the edge with 50 nominations.
Did you help boost the ratings of the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards? What did you think of the show overall? How could they improve next year?