Golden Globes actually saw a drop in ratings this year after picking roast comedian Nikki Glaser as the host of the annual awards show on Sunday night.
It was initally reported by CBS that the 82nd annual awards show ratings jumped seven percent from last year’s show, bringing in an average of 10.1 million viewers, the Hollywood Reporter reported. The network also reported that live streams on its app and Paramount plus were up nine percent from the show in 2024, per VideoAmp, the company CBS uses for ratings amid its contract dispute with Nielsen.
However, Variety later released numbers from Nielsen that showed a dip of two percent in the ratings, with 9.3 million viewers, compared to the average of 9.4 million viewers the Golden Globes brought in 2024.
Last year’s show was up 51 percent from when the show aired on NBC in 2023, when it drew an average of 6.25 million viewers — marking the second-smallest audience in the network’s 28 years of broadcasting the awards show, per Nielsen. To put Sunday’s numbers in context, before the pandemic, the Globes averaged nearly 20 million viewers between 2008-2019, the LA Times noted.
At this year’s show, Glaser took a page out of the Ricky Gervais hosting manual when she kicked off the night by roasting celebrities over Donald Trump’s re-election and more.
UPDATE: Though Paramount initially reported that 10.1 million average viewers tuned into the Golden Globes using data from VideoAmp — which would have marked a 7% increase from last year’s 9.4 million — industry standard measurement company Nielsen counted a 2% decrease to 9.3… pic.twitter.com/dRjPvtTxqp
— Variety (@Variety) January 7, 2025
In a clip posted on X, the comedian/host called out the biggest members of Hollywood for failing to convince people who to vote for in the 2024 election, with the majority of stars being very vocal supporters of the former Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
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“I am not here to roast you tonight,” Glaser told the crowd after pointing out that she’s known for being a comedian on roasts. “I want you to know that. How could I really. You are all so famous. So talented.”
“So powerful,” she added. “I mean you could really do anything. I mean except tell the country who to vote for. But it’s okay, you will get them next time. If there is one. I’m scared.”
She then turned to actress and singer Ariana Grande and asked her to “hold my finger,” a reference to the bizarre interactions between Grande and her costar Cynthia Erivo on the press tour for their movie “Wicked.”
At one point in her opening monologue, Glaser also cracked jokes about the weight loss injection “Ozempic” — calling it the drug’s biggest night — and the sexual harassment in Hollywood that was mentioned numerous times during the #MeToo movement.
Related: Golden Globes Host Roasts Stars For Trump Re-Election
