Early Nielsen figures suggest 60% drop in viewers as
Coronavirus forces starry awards event into limp virtual format
To add to the difficulties besetting the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), early TV ratings for its Sunday-night
Golden Globes awards show have dropped catastrophically from previous levels. They are likely to become the lowest since the show returned to
NBC in 1996.
Ratings agency Nielsen’s early “fast national” figures reveal that the show was 60% down on last year’s edition, drawing around 5.4 million viewers in the 18-49 age group, compared to 14.8 million for a similar estimate last year. The final total is likely to rise – the 2020 ratings ended at 18.5 million after all data was collected – but the 2021 total is set to fall well below the 14.7 million recorded in 2009.