The 2018 Emmy Awards Reached New Low With Ratings


The Emmy Awards are commonly known as Television’s biggest night. However, are recent Hollywood scandals dragging down the award show? Signs may point to yes.

Deadline reports that the 2018 broadcast was the lowest ever in the show’s 70-year history. It is estimated that about 10.172 million people tuned in to watch Colin Jost and Michael Che (both of “SNL”) host this year’s show. The broadcast secured a 2.4 rating among adults aged 18-49 which has been confirmed as historically low. In metered market ratings, the broadcast secured a 7.4/13.

Ratings were down about 11% from last year’s show, which had been the least viewed Emmys to date until this year. Experts think the actual day of the show may be to blame. NBC couldn’t air the award show on a Sunday (a known successful day for similar formats) since that slot is allocated for “Sunday Night Football”. Opting to air on the following Monday to keep the football schedule on track, The Emmys had to compete instead with ESPN’s “Monday Night Football”. Lorne Michaels was the executive producer of the Emmys and many noticed the subtle nods to “SNL” throughout the night through musical overtures and even the hosts themselves.

Unfortunately for Lorne, the last time the Emmys were hosted by Comcast instead of NBC, the numbers were up 34%. It is reported that Fox may be hosting the event next year which leaves fans of television questioning the move. Will Fox be able to beat powerhouse broadcasts like sporting events? Or will the Emmys suffer more now that it may have to compete against two separate football nights? Last night’s football game’s ratings peaked between 9:30-9:45 with a score of 9.1 metered market rating (compared to The Emmys peaking at 8:45-9 with a 7.8). This is bad news for the network since the data shows that, “long before the big categories like Outstanding Drama, Outstanding Comedy and Outstanding Limited Series were announced, viewers were clicking off and tuning out the Emmys ”

In recent years, the number of viewers watching award shows has been declining. The Grammys and Oscars have both suffered from this trend (it’s been reported that both award shows have dropped about 20% in recent ratings) and it is no surprise the Emmys followed suit. Last year’s Emmys had an estimated 11.4 million viewers and this year’s hosts seemed to understand what they were getting themselves into by cracking a very self-aware joke about the “hundreds” of people watching from home.

Share this article: The 2018 Emmy Awards Reached New Low With Ratings
More from Inquisitr