Viewership for NBC’s coverage of the 73rd Golden Globe Awards dropped 4.2 percent from last year to 18.5 million viewers, according to live-plus-same day figures released by Nielsen.
NBC blamed the viewership drop in part to the fact that the ceremony’s opening 15 minutes overlapped with Fox’s coverage of the conclusion of the Green Bay Packers’ 35-18 victory over Washington in an NFL playoff game Sunday.
But the dropping Golden Globe viewership follows a pattern among award shows.
Viewership for ABC’s coverage of the 2015 Oscars dropped 14.8 percent from the previous year; the audience for the 2015 Grammys on CBS was down 12.9 percent from 2014; and viewership for the 2015 Emmys on Fox sank 23.9 percent from 2014 to a record low of 11.87 million.
The 5.5 rating for the ceremony among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group NBC, ABC and Fox target and advertisers pay a premium to reach, was down 5.2 percent from last year’s 5.8 rating.
This is the second consecutive year total viewership has dropped.
Viewership for the 2015 Golden Globes was down 7.5 percent from the 20.87 million average for the 2014 ceremony, its most since 2004.
Despite the drop in viewership, Sunday’s ceremony hosted by the English comedian Ricky Gervais drew more viewers than each of the Golden Globe ceremonies from 2008 to 2012.
Gervais also hosted the Golden Globes from 2010 through 2012. “Saturday Night Live” alumnae Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were the hosts from 2013-15.
— Wire reports