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TV Ratings: Emmys Fall to All-Time Low (Again)
The 74th Emmys telecast recorded its smallest audience ever.

TV Ratings: Emmys Fall to All-Time Low (Again)

Kenan Thompson hosts the 74th EmmysKevin Winter/Getty

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The Emmy Awards fell to an all-time low in viewers for the third time in the past four years.

NBC’s broadcast of the 74th Primetime Emmys averaged 5.92 million viewers, the first time it has fallen below the 6 million mark. The previous low came in 2020, when 6.36 million people watched ABC’s telecast.

Monday’s show averaged a 1.09 rating among adults 18-49, also an all-time low for the Emmys.

Last year’s Emmy ceremony, which aired on CBS, reversed two straight years of all-time lows. That broadcast drew 7.83 million viewers and a 1.81 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the best marks for the Emmys since 2018. Mondays show slipped by about 24 percent in viewers and nearly 40 percent in the 18-49 demographic.

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HBO’s The White Lotus was the big winner at Monday’s ceremony, taking home five awards, including best limited or anthology series (it won five more at the Creative Arts awards earlier in September). HBO’s parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, also came out on top with 40 total awards, 14 more than runner-up Netflix.

A four-network simulcast of Monday Night Football’s season debut — across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes — delivered 19.84 million viewers, up 17 percent from 16.97 million for the franchise’s 2021 opener. Its margin of victory over the Emmys was a great deal wider than when they last aired opposite one another in 2018: On that night, ESPN’s football telecast averaged 11.72 million viewers to 10.21 million for the Emmys on NBC.

The cumulative audience for Monday Night Football is its biggest in several years. ABC had about 10.3 million of those viewers and ESPN just under 8 million; the “Manningcast” on ESPN2 and Spanish-language broadcast on ESPN Deportes accounted for the rest.