Golden Globes gala marks its worst ratings in history

The Golden Globes plummeted on its return to television. The gala hosted by Jerrod Carmichael and broadcast on NBC was watched by only 6.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen TV Ratings. This figure is 10% lower than the last ceremony broadcast on the small screen, in 2021, when 6.91 million Americans watched the ceremony live. The ranking for the last few years is as follows:

2004: 26.8 million viewers

2014: 20.9 million viewers

2015: 19.3 million viewers

2016: 18.5 million viewers

2020: 18.4 million viewers

2021: 6.9 million viewers

2023: 6.3 million viewers

This figure assumes that this years 80th edition of the Golden Globes ceremony, marked the lowest audience in history for the popular gala; second only to the 2008 edition, when a screenwriters' strike prompted the ceremony's organizers to broadcast a televised press conference announcing the winners that was followed by, only, 6 million viewers.

The free fall experienced by the ceremony on television continues, although in a less pronounced way than in other years. In 2020, 18.3 million viewers watched the awards on television. One year later, the figure was down by almost a third. During this edition, and after the boycott that caused the ceremony not to be broadcast on the small screen due to a series of racist accusations to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the data shows no sign of improvement.

The change from Sunday to Tuesday, a bad decision

Some experts blame this data not only on the controversy, but on the bad decision to broadcast the gala on a Tuesday, and not on a Sunday, as is usually the case with the rest of the big events in the awards season.

However, Deadline recalls, the HFPA did not have much choice in deciding which day its awards would be broadcast. NBC already had that Sunday booked for NFL soccer and Monday was also busy with the telecast of the NCAA National Championship Game. Moreover, the Critics Choice Awards, in light of this, had announced that they were postponing their ceremony until Sunday, January 15 so as not to compete with sporting events.

A success on digital platforms

Despite the fact that the gala did not report great profits in its television broadcast, it appears that it was a success on digital platforms. According to the network, the gala was the "most social special event across all of television season-to-date (linear and streaming), both in terms of social engagements and social video views."

In fact, NBC stated that the Golden Globes content on E!, news platforms and NBC digital "garnered nearly 11 million digital page views and video views, up +54% from 2021." The percentage of viewers who chose to follow the gala via Peacock and other digital platforms remains to be determined and will be provided by Nielsen Live + 3 Day shortly.

The data, however, are of concern among the younger public. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 80th Golden Globes only achieved a 1.1 rating in the key advertising demographic of adults 18-49, down 28% from the 1.52 achieved two years ago. A figure that, once again, yields an all-time low for NBC at the 2023 edition of the Golden Globes.