Gregg Donovan holds a sign in support of the “Time’s Up Globes” movement outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel where the Golden Globe is taking place, February 28, 2021 in Beverly Hills, California.
VALERIE MACON | AFP | Getty Images
Not even Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were able to save Sunday’s Golden Globe from poor ratings.
On Tuesday, data from Nielsen revealed that the 78th annual awards organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association captured only 6.9 million viewers, down 63% from the 18.4 million who tuned in to the 2020 broadcast.
The last time the ceremony attracted such a lukewarm audience was in 2008, when the show was turned into a press conference because of the writers’ strike. About 6 million people tuned in to the broadcast. The least watched Globes, however, were in 1995, when only 3.6 million watched the program.
Sunday’s broadcast was hampered by technical hiccups and overshadowed by a scandal, as the HFPA was under severe pressure from its lack of black voters and continuing reports of internal corruption. Fey, Poehler and several award winners used their air time to criticize the organization, leading to a strange night of pseudo celebration.
The ceremony got a rating of 1.5 among adults aged 18 to 49, a drastic drop of 68% compared to the previous year’s program, which previously held the record for the lowest ranking ever for that important demographic. .
NBC, which signed a $ 60 million a year contract with HFPA in 2018 for the exclusive rights to the eight-year broadcast, may be rethinking the value of the ceremony.
While HFPA used Sunday’s program to issue a statement about its plans to include more black journalists and other minority reporters in its organization in the future, many felt that the apology did not work. The organization is dealing with several scandals and its reputation is tarnished in the eyes of the Hollywood elite and the public around the world.
Even so, the ceremony and its awards continue to be coveted by the film and television industries. Nominations and victories, even from an organization like HFPA, are still marketing opportunities for studios and celebrities. Notice how often the words “Golden Globe winner” or “Golden Globe nominee” are used in trailers and other promotional materials.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.