Monday’s Emmy Awards earned a 4.2 demo rating and 15.6 million total viewers, according to final Nielsen numbers.
It was the second-biggest audience for the Emmys in eight years, and it tied for the second-highest rating in the key 18-49 demographic in seven years.
The NBC telecast, hosted by Seth Meyers, was the most-watched night on any TV network since March’s Academy Awards.
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Those numbers come despite the obstacles of being on a Monday evening (for the first time since 1976) and taking place in August. Last year’s September telecast earned 17.8 million viewers, and also had the advantage of a Sunday NFL lead-in on CBS.
In 2013, the Emmys scored a 4.9 in the key demo.
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Here’s a fun fact: Monday’s Emmys topped the rest of the combined so-called “Big 4” competition in primetime, with a 4.2 rating edging the combined 4.1 of Fox (1.8), ABC (1.2) and CBS (1.1).
The 15.6 million in total viewers beat the combined total of 13.8 million for CBS (5.0 million), Fox (4.6 million) and ABC (4.2 million).