Emmys bring in all-time low ratings for ABC

The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, which recognize the best in U.S. television, drew in a record low 11.3 million viewers, according to preliminary data released by Nielsen on Monday.

The low ratings are in line with a steady decline in viewership for awards shows, including the Oscars ceremony earlier this year which drew its smallest audience since 2008. Nielsen estimated that almost 26 million people tuned in to at least some of ABC’s telecast.

Nielsen Social reports that 1.4 million people generated 2.7 million interactions on Facebook and Twitter Sunday night, easily tops among non-sports TV shows for the week.

The figures come as big awards shows, long thought of as among the last must-watch bastions in the live television ecosystem, experience ratings drops.

The show’s ratings were down dramatically from 2013, when it was broadcast on CBS to an average of 17.7 million viewers, its peak for the last 10 years. That’s changed: NBC’s Green Bay-Minnesota NFL game had 20.5 million viewers, Nielsen said.

The biggest Emmy winners this year were HBO’s medieval fantasy hit Game of Thrones, which won the coveted best drama series for a second year, and FX’s much talked about dramatisation of the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial, The People v O.J. Simpson, which took home nine Emmys including best limited series. The Emmys nearly always go up against the National Football League, though, so that can’t fully explain the drop-off.

The Emmys telecast also featured many notable performers of color, including Hollywood diversity advocate Constance Wu (“Fresh Off the Boat”) and pioneering trans actress Laverne Cox (“Orange is the New Black”) as presenters.