If you’re seeing stories about the ratings for the Golden Globes, they’re being skewed by whoever is the author.
The Globes, according to the publications that are owned by the same company, had 9.4 million viewers. That’s exactly 50 % less than the show had in 2020, the last affair before the pandemic.
The PR machine is touting a 50% increase over last year, which was miserable. And even then, someone’s abacus is off kilter. The 2023 ratings were just 6.3 million. So the possible addition of 3 million viewers is not quite the success story as portrayed today.
Only the New York Times got it right. That says something for independent reporting.
The evening sounds like it was a mess beyond the cameras. Around 400 seats in the Beverly Hilton were given over to corporate friends of Eldridge and PMC, the firms that own the Globes, the Hilton, and Dick Clark Productions. It turns out that’s who the after party was for downstairs at the Hilton, where hundreds of guests were turned away.
I’m also told the reason so many nominees were forced to walk a distance to the stage if they won was because the owners put their pals in the good seats. Many nominees for Best Picture were seated in the second tier (there’s an orchestra section, then a first tier preceding). The Netflix film “May December” was one of those that got the bum’s rush, so to speak. Director Todd Haynes wasn’t happy. But no one was, all night.
The ratings were subject to the NFL game on CBS. The network thought the games would run long and bleed into the Globes, pushing up the awards show’s numbers. But the game ended 45 minutes early. Instead of switching to the red carpet, to create buzz, CBS Sports droned on and on until 8pm. The potential Globes audience was gone. A network exec said to me, “These numbers are shit. They should have been 10 to 12 million minimum. They had no competition!”
Will anyone learn from this? No.
Meanwhile, the Critics Choice Awards are Sunday on the CW Network at 8pm. Don’t miss them.
