Thanks to the new Emmys ratings, ABC was the big winner on Sunday night.
According to Nielsen numbers, the 76th Emmys on ABC scored its highest ratings in three years. The latest iteration of the awards show, hosted by father-and-son duo Eugene Levy and Dan Levy, reached 6.87 million average viewers, up 54% from the last ceremony. ABC noted that the show outperformed its previous 2020 airing by 8%.
The 76th Emmys also had a 1.02 rating in the Adults 18-49 demo, a 17% bump.
The stats are encouraging following the event’s steady ratings decline in recent years, with the strike-delayed 75th ceremony on Fox earning all-time lows in viewership in January, as Nielsen noted the ceremony on Fox averaged only 4.46 million viewers.
Those numbers dropped 27% below the 74th Emmys on NBC, which was the previous all-time low at 5.92 million.
The ratings join a deluge of live TV numbers that continue to climb, as appointment viewing becomes more and more important in the age of streaming fragmentation.
In February, CBS and Paramount delivered the most-viewed Super Bowl ever, with 123.7 million viewers. Meanwhile, ABC had its own ratings win in March when The Oscars drew an average audience of 19.5 million, passing the previous year by around 1 million viewers.
Regarding the show, hosts Dan and Eugene Levy kept things moving while several series had huge nights, including Shōgun, which broke an Emmys record by taking 18 total wins in one season. Meanwhile, The Bear broke its own record for wins in the comedy category, taking home 11 wins on the night.
It was also a night of firsts in terms of product integrations, with The Bear actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach teaming up with Johnnie Walker for a much-talked-about in-show moment. According to Disney and Johnnie Walker Blue Label, the moment took months to put together. And given The Bear’s 23 nominations heading into the night, it was bound to cause a stir.
“There’s going to be a lot of eyeballs watching this, and it should resonate with our viewers,” John Campbell, svp of entertainment and streaming solutions at Disney Advertising, told ADWEEK.
