Last night was huge for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but not so much for CBS.
The 69th annual Emmy Awards dipped 2.4 percent from 2016 to a new all-time low, per Nielsen’s household ratings. This year’s 8.2 rating on CBS is imperfect, however, as six markets in Florida have still not caught up from reporting delays caused by Hurricane Irma.
In other words, we’re going by 50 of the 56 metered-markets at this point. So we’re saying there’s a chance to stay out of the basement, Stephen Colbert — it’s just not a very good one.
Last year, the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted Emmys broadcast on ABC fetched an 8.4 in these early TV ratings, which had set an all-time low of its own. Obviously, that’s being challenged — and likely overtaken — today. Not a bad record to lose, though.
Sunday’s Emmys, which ran just a hair past their planned 11 p.m. ET end time, were drowned in eyeballs by NFL football, which was neither unusual or unexpected. Final numbers are anticipated this afternoon.