After two straight years of increases, the telecast of the 78th Emmy Awards on Sunday slid 10% to 6.7 million viewers on NBC, according to Nielsen data.
The ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles hosted by “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star Mariska Hargitay scored the third-smallest audience ever for an Emmy telecast.
NBC’s telecast in 2022 scored 5.9 million viewers while the all-time low was hit in January 2024, when 4.3 million viewers watched on Fox. The Fox telecast was delayed several months due to the strikes by actors and writers in 2023.
While the ratings Emmy program ticked up in the previous two years, the telecast remains challenged by the overall trend of viewers skipping award show telecasts in favor of clips on social media.
The Emmy Awards are not the only trophy show seeing an audience decline this year.
The Golden Globes telecast on CBS was down 7% year-over-year to 8.7 million viewers in January. ABC’s March telecast of the Oscars drew 17.9 million viewers, a 9% drop from 2025.
The Emmy Awards ceremony may end up on a streaming service, as the Television Academy is in talks with Amazon Prime Video about carrying the telecast. The ceremony has rotated among the four broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, in recent years.
The Oscars have already committed to moving the telecast to YouTube in 2029 after decades of airing on ABC.
The audience for the 78th Emmy Awards saw the Apple TV series “Widow’s Bay,” win outstanding comedy as part of 14 Emmys it scored overall, a record for a comedy. HBO Max’s high-energy medical series “The Pitt” was honored for outstanding drama for a second straight year.
The ceremony included a lengthy in memoriam segment and individual tributes to singer Dolly Parton, director Rob Reiner and actor Catherine O’Hara. Actor Michael J. Fox, whose battle with Parkinson’s disease now has him using a wheelchair, was honored with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
