Golden Globes TV audience plummets by more than half

LOS ANGELES —  The TV audience for the virtual Golden Globes ceremony crashed by some 60%, according to ratings data on Tuesday, making the 2021 edition the least watched since 2008.

Nielsen data cited by CNBC and Hollywood outlet Deadline said that just 6.9 million Americans tuned in to watch the three-hour ceremony for film and TV that was broadcast on NBC television on Sunday. Last year, the show drew a TV audience of 18.3 million. NBC did not return calls for comment on Tuesday.

Sunday’s show, hosted under pandemic conditions by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, was widely criticized for technical glitches and for what many called Zoom fatigue, as scores of nominees watched and reacted to their wins on video camera. Movies Nomadlad, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and TV shows The Crown and Schitt’s Creek were the big winners, but the ceremony was also marred by demands for more diversity in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which chooses the winners.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph described the ceremony as a “shambolic hellscape of Zoom ineptitude” that it said boded ill for the Oscars in April. Oscar organizers have said they will put on a ceremony from multiple locations with some people appearing in person but have given few details.

Sunday’s Golden Globe audience was the lowest since 2008 when the usual gala dinner was replaced by a news conference because of a Hollywood writers strike and attracted 6.03 million viewers. Last September’s Emmy Awards ceremony for television, which was also a virtual affair, dropped to a record low of 6.1 million viewers. — Reuters