Golden Globes Slip 15% From Last Year in Preliminary Ratings

Ricky Gervais-hosted awards show has smaller decline in total viewers according to unadjusted Nielsen numbers

Ricky Gervais Golden Globes 2020
Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal Media, LLC via Getty Images

The 77th Golden Globes, hosted by Ricky Gervais, appear to be down 15% in ratings from last year, according to very preliminary Nielsen numbers.

It is very important to stress here that the below numbers for NBC are subject to significant upward adjustment. We’ll get more reliable data in a matter of hours.

For the time being, we’ve compared last year’s non-final fast affiliate ratings with the ones we received this morning. So the totals are understated and imperfect, but the comparison is apples to apples.

From 8 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET, Sunday’s Globes averaged a 3.8 rating/17 share among adults 18-49 and 14.756 million total viewers. The 2019 Golden Globes averaged a 4.5 rating/17 share and 15.734 million total viewers over the same three-hour primetime period on the same Sunday in January.

The all-in audience tally is down 6%, for now.

One thing that did not help the 2020 effort is a longer delay between the final whistle of NBC’s NFL playoff game, the lead-in to the Golden Globes for the past two years, this time around.

NBC was first in ratings with a 4.9 rating/22 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 18.5 million, according to preliminary numbers. Again, those numbers will only rise. Last year, the Globes jumped about 18% from such fast-affiliate numbers to official ones.

NBC’s NFL game and postgame discussion drew an 8.3/35 and 29.7 million viewers in the 7 p.m. ET hour. Those numbers should also be considered very preliminary and subject to significant adjustment.

ABC was second in ratings with a 0.6/3 and third in viewers with 3.1 million. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” at 7 had a 0.7/3 and 4.6 million viewers. At 8, “Kids Say the Darndest Things” got a 0.5/2 and 3 million viewers. “Shark Tank” at 9 received a 0.6/3 and 2.9 million viewers. A repeat followed.

CBS and Fox tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.5/2. CBS was second in total viewers with 5.6 million, Fox was fourth with 1.5 million.

For CBS, “60 Minutes” at 7 had a 0.6/3 and 7.7 million viewers. At 8, “God Friended Me” got a 0.4/2 and 5.4 million viewers. “NCIS: Los Angeles” at 9 received a 0.5/2 and 5.7 million viewers. A rerun followed.

For Fox, between repeats, “The Simpsons” at 8 had a 0.6/3 and 1.9 million viewers. At 8:30, “Family Guy” got a 0.7/3 and 1.9 million viewers.

Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.3/1. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 913,000, Telemundo was sixth with 850,000.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/0 and in viewers with 501,000, airing reruns.

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