Golden Globe Ratings Slip With Smaller NFL Game Lead-In Boost – Updated

UPDATED with final numbers: Ricky Gervais returned for his fifth (and final?) time as host of the Golden Globes on Sunday, taking shots at Hollywood throughout a night that saw period movies 1917 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and TV series Succession and Fleabag take home the top prizes.

The ceremony drew 18.325 million viewers and a 4.7 rating among adults 18-49 in final Live+same day Nielsen numbers special ordered y NBC. It was off by 2% in total viewers and by 11% in the demo from last year’s Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh-hosted show, which averaged 18.648 million viewers and a 5.2 rating among adults 18-49 in Live+Same Day. That was the Globes’ smallest L+SD audience since the 2012 show, the last of Gervais’ original three-year stint as host.

There was a mitigating factor — last year’s ceremony had a stronger lead-in as the highly rated NFL playoff game that preceded it ended at 7:54 PM ET, six minutes before the Globes’ start time. Yesterday’s NFL playoff game wrapped 15 minutes earlier, at 7:39 PM ET, providing a weaker halo effect on the awards ceremony.

The last time Gervais hosted the Globes in 2016, the telecast drew 18.5 million viewers and a 5.5 adults 18-49 rating (L+SD).

His scorched-earth opening monologue has gone viral, tracking as the #1 trending video on YouTube Monday morning with more than 2 million viewers. Meanwhile, Ellen DeGeneres’ emotional acceptance speech of the Carol Burnett awards has generated more than 5 million views on Facebook.

The Globes remained the second biggest awards show franchise behind the Oscars, posting the strongest L+SD demo ratings for a primetime entertainment telecast on the broadcast networks since the Academy Awards on Feb. 24, 2019 (7.7). In total viewers, last night’s Globes ranked as the most-watched primetime entertainment telecast since the “Big Bang Theory” finale on May 16, 2019 (18.535 million).

EARLIER: While the non-time zone adjusted fast nationals should not be taken at face value and will be adjusted up as they underrepresent the West Coast, they provide the first apples-to-apples comparison to last year’s telecast. (Since Nielsen changed its methodology this past fall, current metered-market ratings are no longer comparable to the ones prior to the change.)

In the non-time zone adjusted fast nationals, last night’s Golden Globes drew 14.8 million viewers and a 3.8 rating among adults 18-49. That is down from last year’s ceremony, which logged 15.73 million viewers and a 4.5 adults 18-49 rating in the non-time zone adjusted fast nationals. That translated to 18.6 million viewers and a 5.2 rating among adults 18-49 in Live+Same Day.

Elsewhere on Sunday night, CBS’ God Friended Me (0.4, 5.37M) and NCIS: Los Angeles (0.5, 5.66M) slipped against the Globes. God Friended Me dipped to a series low, taking a six-tenths hit since its last episode, while NCIS: Los Angeles matched its low, taking a two-tenths hit from the last original in December, when CBS’ Sunday lineup was buoyed by NFL overrun. Meanwhile, 60 Minutes (0.6, 7.67M) was also down considerably from last week.

ABC saw a small boost for Kids Say the Darndest Things (0.5, 3.04M) on a night that included new episodes for America’s Funniest Home Videos (0.7, 4.57M) and Shark Tank (0.6, 2.86M).

At Fox, The Simpsons (0.6, 1.87M) and Family Guy (0.7, 1.89M) debuted new episodes amidst a lineup of reruns, with the former falling sharply since its December 15 episode, when Fox benefited from an NFL overrun, and the latter taking a two-tenths hit.