Competing against football and politics, the Emmys somehow got terrible ratings
For the fifth time in six years, fewer people watched the Emmy Awards than ever before
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Did you watch the Emmy Awards this year? If so, congratulations on being one of only 4.3 million people who made that same choice, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And while that may seem like a lot of people in some other contexts (imagine 4.3 million people sitting on your couch!), it’s definitely not a lot in terms of Emmy broadcasts. In fact, it’s a new record low for the ceremony, making this the fifth time in six years that the Emmy awards have set a new record low—the one outlier being the 2021 ceremony, which was sort of held outside as a COVID precaution, so maybe viewers were curious about that.
But this year’s Emmy Awards basically shot itself in the foot in terms of attracting viewers, airing on a Monday months after the usual September window (with the Hollywood strikes forcing producers to delay the show) opposite both NFL wild card playoffs and news coverage of the questionably relevant/necessary caucuses in the questionably relevant/necessary state of Iowa. Basically, if you wanted to watch something other than the Emmy Awards, you had multiple options. And if you didn’t want to watch the Emmy Awards, that option has been getting more enticing every year.
Hell, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney was at the Emmy Awards and he didn’t want to watch the Emmy Awards, with Kaitlin Olson snapping a photo of him watching the Eagles on his phone with a serious look on his face. (The Eagles lost, so maybe it’s okay that he could distract himself with the Emmys.)
There’s also the fact that the Emmy aired after the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards, and while those aren’t as prestigious as the famous golden winged lady holding an atom for some reason, they could’ve contributed to some kind of awards fatigue that the Emmys don’t usually have to deal with over in September.
Unfortunately for anyone suffering from awards fatigue, there are still weeks to go in this season. How are you going to make it to the Oscars if you’re over it already? Then there’s the fact that the next Emmys is scheduled for September again, which is practically just a few months away and will almost certainly get even worse ratings than this one.
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There’s also the fact that the Emmy aired after the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice AwardsI think that’s the big thing. I might’ve watched it except for that.The Eagles even did them a favor by barely showing up for the playoff game, but I still never got around to switching over.It’s weird, but it seemed like it wasn’t the real Emmys somehow.
Not really a surprise. This was, like, the third awards show in as many weeks. People are fucking tired at this point.
It’s also because for some reason, they do not make it easy to stream. Why still in 2024 do a need a cable or live TV add-on to watch an awards show when I’m already subscribed to a bunch of streaming services? And on top of that, they said it would be streamable next day on Hulu, but this appears to be a lie. Still not available as of me posting.
It’s there now (until Monday), for whatever that’s worth.
Yeah I watched it last night. Some good moments.
I remembered it was on about 45 minutes after it started. I saw The Bear had already won for several comedy categories despite not being one so I decided not to tune in.Fuck these award shows.
Could be that half the reason to watch awards shows is to bitch about awards shows, and there’s no shortage of actual things to bitch about/be terrified of.
To the person that posted this article you must have expected people actually liking the tv show’s he is in. The Bear ruined him.
Football is fun, politics are important, the Emmys are a bunch of rich idiots pitching each other’s already successful shows, interspersed with other unrelated commercials. It’s not rocket science.
I usually watch, but somehow didn’t realize it was even on. Watched Monsieur Spade instead.