The TV ratings for the Emmy Awards, like most awards shows, are well off their historical highs. Quite a number of factors are in the mix for the 2011 Emmy Awards that could increase or decrease this year's ratings.
What will really matter?
- Broadcast Date: The Emmy Awards will air on Sunday, September 18. The Sunday before the start of the season is its "usual" date. Last year NBC broadcast the Emmy Awards on Sunday, August 29. That's because NBC didn't want it in conflict with its Sunday Night Football. The 2006 show was also in late August.
- Broadcast Live Nationwide: The Emmy Awards will be broadcast live in all timezones (2010 was the first time that was done since the late 1970s). The Pacific and Mountain time zones contain about 20% of the nation's population. That introduces several potential factors that may largely cancel themselves out The telecast will be repeated at 8pm in the Pacific time zone by some, but not all local Fox affiliates, and the encore viewing will be included in the final ratings numbers.
- Changed Format: The format of the show was somewhat changed beginning last year. I don't think it mattered any to the ratings.
- The Nominees: A wise man once wrote "the same shows, nobody watches, always win". Will this season's nominations help or hurt ratings, or not matter at all?
- The Network (Fox): Will viewers tune in to see Glee's Jane Lynch? Will the network itself matter?
- Here's a link to the rest of our posts on the Emmy Awards.
How do you think the 2011 Emmy Awards viewership will do this season?
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For reference, here are the historical Emmy Awards ratings since 1956: (like most historical data, we lack demo ratings)
| Household | Number of | Number of | **Cost per | |||||
| Day | Date | Time | Net | rating | Share | Homes | Viewers | 30 Sec Spot |
| SUN | 8/29/10 (DVR) | 8:00PM-11:01PM | NBC | 8.4 | 14 | 9,599,000 | 13,503,000 | not available |
| SUN | 9/21/09 (DVR) | 8:00PM-11:05PM | CBS | 8.7 | 14 | 10,015,000 | 13,471,000 | $395,000 |
| SUN | 9/21/08 (DVR) | 8:00PM-11:00PM | ABC | 8.2 | 13 | 9,371,000 | 12,339,000 | $284,000 |
| SUN | 9/16/07 (DVR) | 8:00PM-11:14PM | FOX | 8.4 | 14 | 9,445,000 | 12,951,000 | $583,100 |
| SUN | 8/27/06 (DVR) | 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 | |
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**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.
Source: NTI Pocketpieces, Nielsen Audience Composition Reports and Nielsen Galaxy Explorer, Ad expenditure data from Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
Copyright 2011 The Nielsen Company
(DVR) - 2006-2009 ratings are Live +Same Day Viewing Estimates Include DVR Playback On The Same Day, Defined As 3AM-3AM. All other years ratings are Live viewing.
