Sunday evening’s Golden Globes broadcast garnered an audience of 8.7 million viewers, as reported by Nielsen, marking a nearly 7% drop compared to last year’s viewership.

The event, aired on CBS and hosted by Nikki Glaser, fell short of the audience numbers reached in previous years when the network aired the show. In CBS’s inaugural year broadcasting the Globes, 9.4 million viewers tuned in, while last year’s show, also led by Glaser, attracted 9.3 million viewers.

CBS secured a five-year deal to air the Golden Globes starting in 2024, taking over after NBC’s long tenure was cut short due to a scandal involving diversity and ethics issues. The rights were subsequently acquired by Dick Clark Productions, owned by Penske Media, and Eldridge Industries, led by Todd Boehly. During the late 2010s, the Globes frequently drew almost 20 million viewers.

On the same night that “One Battle After Another” and “Hamnet” received top honors, many viewers opted for football, as evidenced by NBC’s coverage of the Chargers-Patriots playoff game, which attracted an average of 28.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Despite the drop in TV viewership, CBS highlighted a significant rise in social media engagement, labeling the event as the “most social ever,” with 42 million interactions—a 5% increase from the previous year—based on Social Content Ratings. Glaser’s opening monologue was viewed over 14 million times across Golden Globes’ social media platforms within the first 36 hours.

In related industry news, Paramount Skydance, the parent company of CBS, filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery and its CEO, David Zaslav, on Monday. The legal action is part of Paramount’s aggressive bid to take over the studio. Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery’s board advised against accepting Paramount’s proposal, suggesting that shareholders should instead support a deal with Netflix.

___

For more coverage of the 2026 Golden Globe Awards, visit