A story in the NY Times today discusses some changes that the Emmy Awards producers tried (and failed) to make to boost the ratings for the show that fell to its lowest level in nearly two decades last year (historical data below).
I think fiddling with the broadcast format misses the bigger problem that is highlighted by this quote from the same article.
If the same, relatively lightly viewed, shows keep winning year after year, why is the ratings slide a surprise?
Leading the pack with 22 nominations this year was “30 Rock,” the NBC comedy that last season ranked about 60th among all prime-time series in total audience, attracting about 7.5 million viewers per week, according to Nielsen Media Research. That is roughly the number of people who watch reruns of “Two and a Half Men” every day of the week.
Last year “30 Rock” won seven Emmys, including best comedy actor (Alec Baldwin), best comedy actress (Tina Fey) and, for the second straight year, best comedy series. The show is up for all three of those awards again this year....
via NYTimes.com.
Notable recent repeat Winners:
Outstanding Comedy Series: 2003, 2005, Everybody Loves Raymond; 2007, 2008, 30 Rock
Outstanding Drama Series: 2000-2003, The West Wing; 2004, 2007, The Sopranos
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series: 1998-2002 The Late Show With David Letterman; 2003-2008 The Daily Show
Outstanding Lead Actor Comedy Series: 2003, 2005, 2006 Tony Shalhoub
Outstanding Lead Actor Drama Series: 2000, 2001, 2003, James Gandolfini; 2004, 2005, 2007 James Spader
Outstanding Supporting Actor Comedy Series: 2002, 2003, 2005 Brad Garrett; 2006-2008 Jeremy Piven
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program: 2003-2008, The Amazing Race.
Here is a chart of the Emmy Awards viewership and 30 second ad cost from 1986 through 2008:
2006-8 viewers are Live+SD.
Here are the detailed historical Emmy Awards ratings and other data back to 1956 (updated with 2009 information):
| Household | Number of | Number of | **Cost per | |||||
| Day | Date | Time | Net | rating | Share | Homes | Viewers | 30 Sec Spot |
| SUN | 9/21/2009* | 8:00PM-11:05PM | CBS | 8.7 | 14 | 10,015,000 | 13,471,000 | $395,000 |
| SUN | 9/21/2008* | 8:00PM-11:00PM | ABC | 8.2 | 13 | 9,371,000 | 12,339,000 | $284,000 |
| SUN | 9/16/2007* | 8:00PM-11:14PM | FOX | 8.4 | 14 | 9,445,000 | 12,951,000 | $583,100 |
| SUN | 8/27/2006 * | 8:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 10.6 | 17 | 11,669,000 | 16,184,000 | $435,000 |
| SUN | 9/18/05 | 8:00PM-11:03PM | CBS | 12.5 | 20 | 13,760,000 | 18,683,000 | $528,100 |
| SUN | 9/19/04 | 8:00PM-10:58PM | ABC | 9.4 | 15 | 10,336,000 | 13,788,000 | $441,900 |
| SUN | 9/21/03 | 8:00PM-11:05PM | FOX | 11.8 | 19 | 12,751,000 | 17,937,000 | $520,000 |
| SUN | 9/22/02 | 8:00PM-11:15PM | NBC | 13.5 | 21 | 14,397,000 | 19,987,000 | $475,000 |
| SUN | 11/4/01 | 8:00PM-11:04PM | CBS | 11.4 | 16 | 12,045,000 | 17,117,000 | $383,400 |
| SUN | 9/10/00 | 8:00PM-11:05PM | ABC | 14.2 | 23 | 14,554,000 | 21,798,000 | $424,400 |
| SUN | 9/12/99 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | FOX | 11.7 | 19 | 11,777,000 | 17,454,000 | $400,000 |
| SUN | 9/13/98 | 7:00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 13.6 | 23 | 13,526,000 | 19,365,000 | $323,000 |
| SAT | 9/14/97 | 8:00PM-11:01PM | CBS | 13.5 | 21 | 13,264,000 | 18,774,000 | $327,900 |
| SUN | 9/8/96 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | ABC | 14.4 | 23 | 13,962,000 | 20,582,000 | $242,000 |
| SUN | 9/10/95 | 8:00PM-11:00PM | FOX | 12.4 | 20 | 11,892,000 | 18,041,000 | $277,900 |
| SUN | 9/11/94 | 8:00PM-11:02PM | ABC | 14.6 | 23 | 13,928,000 | 21,246,000 | $223,000 |
| SUN | 9/19/93 | 8:00PM-11:01PM | ABC | 13.6 | 21 | 12,811,000 | 18,900,000 | $221,600 |
| SUN | 8/30/92 | 8:00PM-11:32PM | FOX | 13.9 | 24 | 12,802,000 | 20,415,000 | Not Available |
| SUN | 8/25/91 | 8:00PM-11:04PM | FOX | 12.5 | 22 | 11,640,000 | 18,507,600 | Not Available |
| SUN | 9/16/90 | 8.00PM-11:15PM | FOX | 8.2 | 14 | 7,630,000 | 12,299,566 | Not Available |
| SUN | 9/17/89 | 8.00PM-11:00PM | FOX | 11.4 | 19 | 10,500,000 | 17,209,500 | Not Available |
| SUN | 8/28/88 | 8.00PM-11:22PM | FOX | 10.4 | 18 | 9,210,000 | 15,426,750 | Not Available |
| SUN | 9/20/87 | 8.00PM-11:00PM | FOX | 8.8 | 14 | 7,800,000 | 14,383,200 | Not Available |
| SUN | 9/21/86 | 8.00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 23.1 | 36 | 20,190,000 | 35,796,587 | $179,000 |
| SUN | 9/22/85 | 8.00PM-11:00PM | ABC | 18.6 | 29 | 15,980,000 | Not Available | $170,000 |
| SUN | 9/23/84 | 9.04PM-12:39PM | CBS | 17.1 | 33 | 14,520,000 | 20,284,440 | $198,900 |
| SUN | 9/25/83 | 8.00PM-11:22PM | NBC | 18.0 | 30 | 15,080,000 | 24,505,000 | $160,000 |
| SUN | 9/19/82 | 8.00PM-11:04PM | ABC | 21.7 | 35 | 18,080,000 | 33,014,080 | |
| SUN | 9/13/81 | 8.00PM-11:03PM | CBS | 22.3 | 37 | 18,170,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 9/7/80 | 9.00PM-12:02AM | NBC | 15.0 | 29 | 11,670,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 9/9/79 | 8.30PM-11:10PM | ABC | 27.3 | 45 | 20,830,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 9/17/78 | 8.27PM-10:30PM | CBS | NL* | ||||
| SUN | 9/17/78 | 11.03PM-12:34AM | CBS | 18.3 | 33 | 13,630,000 | Not Available | |
| MON | 5/17/76 | 9.00PM-11:40PM | ABC | 25.3 | 42 | 17,610,000 | 31,381,020 | |
| MON | 5/19/75 | 9.00PM-11:05PM | CBS | 25.0 | 44 | 17,130,000 | 30,834,000 | |
| WED | 9/4/74 | 10.00PM-11:40PM | ABC | 10.0 | 21 | 6,850,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 5/20/73 | 9:00PM-11:10PM | ABC | 29.0 | 49 | 18,790,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 5/6/72 | 10:00PM-12:15AM | CBS | 25.1 | 54 | 15,590,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 5/9/71 | 10:00PM-12:00AM | NBC | 30.3 | 59 | 18,210,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 6/7/70 | 9:00PM-11:20PM | ABC | 21.4 | 42 | 12,520,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 6/8/69 | 10:00PM-12:05AM | CBS | 23.2 | 50 | 13,220,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 5/19/68 | 9:00PM-11:00PM | NBC | 27.9 | 53 | 15,600,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 6/4/67 | 9:00PM-11:15PM | ABC | 24.1 | 45 | 13,230,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 5/22/66 | 10:00PM-11:45PM | CBS | 30.3 | 58 | 16,300,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 9/12/65 | 10:00PM-12:00AM | NBC | 25.1 | 51 | 13,500,000 | Not Available | |
| MON | 5/25/64 | 10:00PM-11:30PM | NBC | 31.9 | 65 | 16,360,000 | Not Available | |
| SUN | 5/26/63 | 10:00PM-11:50PM | NBC | 29.8 | 63 | 14,840,000 | Not Available | |
| TUE | 5/22/62 | 10:00PM-11:50PM | NBC | 28.1 | 61 | 13,769,000 | Not Available | |
| TUE | 5/16/61 | 10:00PM-11:30PM | NBC | 32.7 | 64 | 15,336,000 | Not Available | |
| * PRIOR TO 1961 RATINGS WERE CALCULATED ACCORDING TO EACH NETWORK'S UNIVERSE. | ||||||||
| THEREFORE, EACH NETWORK'S RATING WAS A PERCENTAGE OF ITS OWN UNIVERSE | ||||||||
| WED | 5/6/59 | 10:00PM-11:30PM | NBC | 33.3 | 57 | Not Available | Not Available | |
| TUE | 4/15/58 | 10:00PM-11:30PM | NBC | 33.5 | 59 | Not Available | Not Available | |
| SUN | 3/16/57 | 9:00PM-10:30PM | NBC | 27.2 | 41 | Not Available | Not Available | |
| SUN | 3/17/56 | 9:00PM-10:30PM | NBC | 29.8 | 44 | Not Available | Not Available | |
-
*Cost Per Thousand books not available for years 1987,1988,1989,1990,1991 and 1992
* NL stands for ‘next listing’ which signifies the telecast had a time interruption and the rating data is reported in the next entry listed in this column.
NOTE: The Emmy Awards during 1948 -1953 were not yet broadcast nationally -- In 1948 the EMMYS were broadcast on KTSL-TV, Los Angeles.
1949 the program was broadcast on KFI-TV in Los Angeles, in 1950 on KLAC-TV, Los Angeles. and in 1951 on KECA-TV, Los Angeles
*Ad expenditure data should be sourced as Nielsen Monitor-Plus
Source: NTI Pocketpieces, Nielsen Audience Composition Reports and Nielsen Galaxy Explorer
Copyright 2008 The Nielsen Company
* Live +Same Day Viewing Estimates Include DVR Playback On The Same Day, Defined As 3AM-3AM
