The Golden Globes averaged 9.4 million viewers on Sunday night, according to Nielsen, an increase over the 2023 ceremony’s ratings but still well below the total number of viewers just a few years ago.
Until 2020, the Globe Awards regularly attracted between 17 and 20 million viewers. In 2019, the Globes were narrowing their viewership gap with the Oscars so dramatically that it looked like the telecast could become the most-watched awards show.
And then disaster struck.
First came the pandemic, which robbed the 2021 Globes of its usual booze-filled gala, sending ratings plummeting. Then came the scandal of the organization running the Globes, prompting NBC to refuse to broadcast the 2022 ceremony. Last year, NBC gave the Globes a one-year break, and audience numbers were still low: Watch just over Six million people.
For months, there has been speculation that a streaming service like Netflix or Amazon could acquire the rights to broadcast the Globes. This did not happen. In November, CBS acquired the rights to another one-year arrangement. (In a statement announcing the deal, CBS President George Cheeks said the Globes could help promote scripts that were delayed by last year’s strikes in Hollywood. Those programs will premiere next month.)
CBS announced a host — the relatively unknown Joe Coy — just a few days before Christmas.
Reviews for Mr. Coy were harsh, with critics taking particular issue with the comedian’s bizarre mid-monologue pivot, blaming other writers for some of his boring jokes. “Yes, I got the gig 10 days ago, do you want the perfect monologue?” He said. “Yo, shut up. You were kidding me right? Slow down. I wrote some of these – and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
Critics weren’t kind to the telecast either. Vanity Fair called it a “near-total disaster,” and a Hollywood Reporter critic said it was the “most boring awards show” he had ever seen. Ankler likened it to “RC Cola award shows.”