Ratings for Sunday’s Golden Globes saw a slight 7% downtick in year-over-year viewers, but still managed to be crowned as the most-watched awards show since the Oscars.
The 83rd annual show, which began airing at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, brought in 8.66 million viewers as it aired on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ for premium subscribers, according to live-plus-same-day Nielsen big data plus panel figures.
That’s down 7% from last year’s show, which averaged 9.27 million viewers, per live-plus-same-day figures from Nielsen, which notably use panel-only data given Nielsen’s switch to include big data figures this fall. Another consideration is declining linear viewership across the board, which have seen year-over-year levels for people using television (PUT) decline by 10%.
This year’s Globes also faced some staunch competition for eyeballs as it competed with NFL Playoff Football on NBC, which saw the Los Angeles Chargers take on the New England Patriots. Last year’s ceremony also faced competition from NBC’s NFL game, but also benefitted from a NFL lead-in as the Kansas City-Denver game scored 20.6 million viewers.
Still, the Globes earned enough viewers to become the top entertainment program of the night, and before the show, ET’s “Live on the Golden Globes Red Carpet” telecast averaged 3.4 million viewers, per Nielsen.
CBS also touted that the Globes scored their biggest year to date on social media, with the 83rd ceremony scoring 42 million interactions, up 5% year-over-year. Nikki Glaser’s monologue tallied up nearly 14 million views in the first 36 hours across Globes Globes social media platforms.
Hosted by Glaser for the second time in a row, the 2026 Golden Globes saw major victories for “One Battle After Another,” its most nominated film, as the movie took home the awards for best comedy/musical, director, screenplay and supporting actress for Teyana Taylor. The award for best motion picture drama shocked audiences — and Chloé Zhao — as it went to “Hamnet,” rather than “Sinners,” the second most nominated film of the night.
On the TV side, there were a handful of repeats from September’s Emmys, with “The Pitt,” “The Studio” and “Adolescence” all receiving their flowers, while “Pluribus” entered the conversation with Rhea Seehorn winning best actress in a drama series.
