2015 Emmys Ratings Made History...but Not in a Good Way

Andy Samberg hosted the 2015 telecast on Fox

By Chris Harnick Sep 21, 2015 6:18 PMTags
Game of Thrones Cast, Emmy Awards 2015, ShowLester Cohen/WireImage

The 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards made history on Sept. 20…just not all of it was good.

Yes, Viola Davis became the first black woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for How to Get Away With Murder, but a record-low number of viewers saw her do it. Preliminary numbers have the Fox ceremony at 11.9 million viewers, the lowest audience recorded for an Emmys telecast.

Last year's ceremony on NBC, which aired on a Monday in August because of a conflict with the network's Sunday Night Football schedule, had 15.6 million viewers. CBS' 2013 telecast had the biggest ratings in recent years with 17.8 million viewers. Previous recorded lows were on ABC and Fox.

What's the cause? Besides football, there's just a lot of competition out there. That can also be said for your favorite show's ratings. We're in peak TV, people! Aside from football, Big Brother was the only new competition for the Emmys on broadcast networks. The CBS reality series had 6.8 million viewers and a 1.1 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. AMC's new ratings giant Fear The Walking Dead also aired a new episode.

The 2015 Emmy telecast hosted by Andy Samberg saw Allison Janney and Uzo Aduba tie Ed Asner for previous Emmy records. Janney and Asner are both now have seven acting Emmy trophies and Aduba and Asner have both won Emmys in the Comedy and Drama category for playing the same character. Other big winners of the night included Game of Thrones, Veep and Olive Kitteridge. Jon Hamm finally took home the statue for Mad Men and Jeffrey Tambor won for Amazon's Transparent.

Watch: Viola Davis Talks Boundary-Breaking Emmy Win