All of the GOP-bashing at Sunday night’s Emmys was apparently unable to save the awards show from drawing its smallest number of viewers on record.
Fox’s broadcast of the television awards show drew 11.9 million viewers, down a whopping four million viewers from last year’s broadcast on NBC (15.6 million), according to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen reported by Variety.
The previous record for smallest recorded audience was reportedly held by both the 1990 ceremony (also on Fox) and ABC’s 2008 broadcast. NBC scored the best-ever viewer total when it drew nearly 36 million for its 1986 show.
In addition to the dismal viewer total, Sunday night’s Emmys is believed to be the lowest-rated broadcast of the awards show in history; it managed a tepid 3.6 rating among the key 18-49 demo, down 14% from NBC’s 2014 broadcast. The previous “record”-holder was ABC’s 2008 show with a 3.8 rating.
Variety points out that 1974’s Emmy awards likely drew a smaller audience, but Nielsen was not able to measure total viewer numbers. An estimated 6.85 million homes tuned into the show that year.
As Breitbart News reported yesterday, Emmys host Andy Samberg and several award presenters repeatedly cracked jokes about Republicans and conservatives all night.
In the first ten minutes of the show, Samberg used his opening monologue to suggest Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is racist, while also taking shots at Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed this month for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of religious beliefs.
“It’s so ironic that she came out of jail to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ when you consider how many dudes have boned each other to that song,” the host quipped.
Later, Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus also mocked Trump while accepting an award, while presenters Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele took a shot at the Republican debates.
HBO dominated Sunday night’s show, taking home the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for its hit fantasy series Game of Thrones while landing 11 other wins among 24 total nominations. Elsewhere, actress Viola Davis made history by becoming the first African-American woman to win the Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for her work on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder.