The AP wire brings the news that the once vaunted Emmys just aren’t pulling them in like they used to. TV’s biggest night recorded its lowest viewership ever: 10.21 million. That’s an 11% drop on the past two years (11.4 million each) and reflects the downward trend for awards shows viewership. The Oscars audience this year was down 19% from 2017 and the Grammys were down 23%. In the 1990s, the Emmys drew audiences in excess of 20 million people three times.
The further fragmentation of television undoubtedly plays a role in audience interest levels. When “Frasier” was winning awards in the 1990s, the comedy was regularly seen in nearly 20 million homes. Streamed shows like “Mrs. Maisel” are far less popular and, in fact, it’s still difficult to get precise numbers about how many people watch them. Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” became the first show from a streaming service to win best comedy, while HBO’s “Game of Thrones” was the top drama.
Continuing the white-hot market for news, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow recorded her highest-rated week in the show’s 10-year history, Nielsen said.
Otherwise, football dominated the television ratings last week. Five of the 10 most-watched shows were football games, and two others were football pregame shows, Nielsen said.
NBC won the week in primetime, averaging 6.7 million viewers last week. CBS had 4.8 million viewers, ABC had 4 million, Fox had 2.3 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1.33 million, Telemundo had 1.31 million and the CW had 740,000.
The Top 20
Primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Sept. 10-16. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: N.Y. Giants at Dallas, NBC, 20.66 million.
2. “NFL Pre-Game Show,” NBC, 14.22 million.
3. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.44 million.
4. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 10.89 million.
5. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.75 million.
6. NFL Football: N.Y. Jets at Detroit, ESPN, 10.5 million.
7. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday) NBC, 10.15 million.
8. NFL Football: L.A. Rams at Oakland, ESPN, 9.78 million.
9. College Football: Ohio St. at TCU, ABC, 7.23 million.
10. NFL Football: Cincinnati at Baltimore, NFLN, 7.06 million.
11. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 6.55 million.
12. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 6.36 million.
13. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 6.234 million.
14. “The Sustainer,” NFLN, 6.23 million.
15. “NCIS,” CBS, 6.15 million.
16. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.04 million.
17. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 5.71 million.
18. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 5.69 million.
19. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 5.591 million.
20. “World of Dance,” NBC, 5.586 million.
