Ahead of Sunday’s telecast of the Primetime Emmy Awards on ABC, Nielsen has unveiled its ranking for the most-watched titles and talent nominated this year.
“The nominees for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards demonstrate the power of both new and long-running programming to attract viewers’ time and attention,” the ratings firm said in a Thursday statement. “By understanding how audiences are voting with their time, brands and platforms can ensure they’re reaching audiences where they are and create meaningful partnerships with the talent they are investing their time in.”
In order to align with Emmy rules, Nielsen focused on the eligibility period of June 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024. For the Best Drama and Best Comedy categories, Nielsen measured time spent watching the season that occurred within that window for which a given title was nominated. Meanwhile, Best Actor and Actress nominees included any titles — both movies and series — in which the performer was a top-billed cast member.
Below are Nielsen’s winners for the 2024 awards season:
Best Drama
Prime Video’s “Fallout,” based on the popular video game franchise of the same name, ranked as the most-watched series nominated for Best Drama with 162.1 million total viewing hours, followed by Netflix’s “The Crown” Season 6 with 100.1 million viewing hours and Hulu and FX’s “Shōgun” Season 1 with 99.7 million viewing hours.
Ella Purnell (Lucy) in “Fallout”
Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), Prince William (Rufus Kampa) and Prince Harry (Fflyn Edwards) in “The Crown”
Hiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga in “Shōgun”
Best Comedy
As for Best Comedy, Hulu and FX’s “The Bear” Season 2 led the way with 97.6 million total viewing hours, with Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” Season 3 ranking second with 84.4 million total viewing hours and ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” Season 3 finishing third with 59.8 million total viewing hours.
Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri in “The Bear”
Steve Martin, Martin Short and Meryl Streep in “Only Murders in the Building”
Quinta Brunson in “Abbott Elementary”
Best Limited or Anthology Series
The Best Limited or Anthology Series category was a tight race between HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country” with 66.7 million total viewing hours and Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” with 61.2 million total viewing hours. The former was given a slight edge from airing on both linear and streaming. Coming in third was Apple TV+’s “Lessons in Chemistry,” based on the Bonnie Garmus novel of the same name, with 35.4 million total viewing hours.
Jodie Foster in “True Detective: Night Country”
Martha (Jessica Gunning) in “Baby Reindeer”
Brie Larson in “Lessons in Chemistry”
Best Actor and Actress in a Drama
When it came to the nominees for Best Actor in a Drama, “Fallout” star Walton Goggins dominated with 363.9 million viewing hours, followed by “Slow Horses” lead Gary Oldman with 283.6 million viewing hours and “Hijack” star Idris Elba with 279.8 million viewing hours.
Walton Goggins as The Ghoul in “Fallout”
Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb in “Slow Horses”
Idris Elba as Sam Nelson in “Hijack”
As for Best Actress in a Drama, “The Morning Show” star Jennifer Aniston earned a staggering 1.725 billion viewing hours — boosted by her 10-season run on “Friends” — while “The Crown” actress Imelda Staunton placed second with 247.6 million viewing hours and Aniston’s co-star Reese Witherspoon placed third with 192.8 million viewing hours.
Jennifer Aniston in “The Morning Show”
Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton and Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II in “The Crown”
Reese Witherspoon as Bradley Jackson in “The Morning Show”
Best Actor and Actress in a Comedy
Jeremy Allen White easily beat the competition in the Best Actor in a Comedy race with 499.7 million total viewing hours, boosted by “The Bear” as well as 2023 feature “The Iron Claw” and Showtime’s “Shameless,” which ran for 11 seasons and is available on Paramount+. Meanwhile, “Only Murders in the Building” stars Steve Martin and Martin Short brought in 195.4 million and 169.4 million total viewing hours, respectively.
Jeremy Allen White in “The Bear”
Steve Martin in “Only Murders in the Building”
Martin Short in “Only Murders in the Building”
Despite a closer race for Best Actress in a Comedy, “Only Murders in the Building” star Selena Gomez came out on top with 164.8 million total viewing hours. However, while Gomez has significantly more credits, Ayo Edebiri of “The Bear” came in second at 158.4 million total viewing hours. Rounding out the third place spot was “Hacks” star Jean Smart with 145.4 million total viewing hours.
Selena Gomez in “Only Murders in the Building”
Ayo Edebiri in “The Bear”
Jean Smart in “Hacks”
The 76th Primetime Emmys air live Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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