By Variety | Created at 2026-09-15 23:21:22 | Updated at 2026-09-16 00:11:10
1 hour ago
NBC’s telecast of the 78th Emmy Awards hit 6.7 million viewers on Monday night, per Nielsen.
That total marks a 9% decrease from last year’s ceremony on CBS, which brought in 7.4 million viewers — the award show’s best performance since 2021.
It should be noted, though, that the 2025 ceremony took place on a Sunday, making it easier for viewers to sit down for a three-hour telecast. Compared to the most recent Monday night Emmys — televised by Fox in 2024 — NBC accomplished a 41% increase. But since that telecast, which hit only a meager 4.4 million viewers, was the first in Emmys history to air with fierce competition from an NFL playoff game, the most accurate comparison is perhaps to NBC’s own Monday night Emmys in 2022. In those terms, the network’s latest Emmy efforts made a 10% improvement, up from 5.9 million viewers.
Hosted by “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star Mariska Hargitay, the Emmys did air against an NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos. Even with that competition, it drew enough viewers to rank as the the most-watched non-sports, non-news Monday telecast of 2026, both overall and among adults age 18-49. Hargitay referenced the football game in a pre-recorded sketch featuring a cameo from Taylor Swift, musing that the pop star wouldn’t be able to attend the show because she’d be supporting her husband, Chiefs player Travis Kelce.
According to NBCUniversal, the Emmys generated 133 million social views, counted across Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube. The company touts that that marks a 90% increase from 2025.
It appears that this was the Emmys’ last year on a traditional broadcaster. After 31 years of rotating between NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC, the TV Academy is now in talks with Amazon Prime Video.
