With a new host and a relatively politics-free show, this year’s Golden Globe Awards drew 9.3 million viewers, a slight decline compared to 2024, according to Nielsen data.
Viewership for the award show, which was broadcast live Sunday on CBS and Paramount+, fell 2% from the prior year’s 9.4 million viewers. While the numbers represent an increase compared to the 2023 telecast, they pale in comparison to 2019, when an average of 19 million viewers tuned in.
The Globes were up against NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which featured the Minnesota Vikings against the Detroit Lions. That game attracted 25.8 million viewers, up 22% from last year’s matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, according to Nielsen.
Former Globes TV home NBC declined to televise the ceremony in 2022, after a Times investigation found ethical lapses and self-dealing among the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which previously served as the voting body for the Globes. The Times also found that the HFPA had no Black members, sparking a boycott by publicists and studios.
After attempts at reform, the association was dissolved in 2023 and the nonprofit’s members were converted to employees of a for-profit enterprise. CBS picked up the show for TV starting in 2024.
This year’s show, held at the Beverly Hilton, was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser. Times television critic Robert Lloyd praised her performance, saying, “in the term of the trade, she killed.”
“Her jokes were good, her delivery tight, she earned the good time she was clearly having,” he wrote. “Glaser’s stand-up can be pretty dark — her recent Golden Globe-nominated but not winning special is titled ‘Someday You’ll Die’ — and she became known for doing celebrity roasts. But she found a way to be lightly cutting and relatively inoffensive.”
Glaser’s performance was considered a dramatic improvement on that of last year’s widely panned host Jo Koy. But Glaser alone couldn’t stem the tide of shrinking viewership for all award shows that has been occurring for years.
Among key age demographics, the Nielsen data was mixed. Viewership from 18- to 34-year-olds dropped 5%, though 25- to 54-year-old viewers increased 3% compared to last year.
The Nielsen numbers contrast with figures released Monday by Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Globes. The company, owned by Penske Media Corp., said the Globes averaged 10.1 million viewers, citing overnight data from Nielsen rival VideoAmp. The company also said the livestreaming audience for the Globes increased 9% compared to the previous year.
CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Nielsen numbers. The network’s parent company, Paramount Global, did not renew its contact with Nielsen late last year, citing price hikes and alternative methods to measure audiences.