HOLLYWOOD -- The Golden Globes kudocast on NBC took a ratings hit but wasn't tackled by pro football on Sunday.
The decision by the National Football League to move one of its playoff semifinals into primetime certainly affected the Globes, which fell to a six-year ratings low, but it still gave the Peacock its strongest Sunday since last February's Winter Olympics.
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the three-hour "60th Annual Golden Globes" averaged roughly 20 million viewers, a 15% dropoff from 2002 and the smallest turnout for the kudocast since 1997 (the third year that NBC carried the awards).
Reliable national prelims weren't available for the NFL game between the Tennessee Titans and Oakland Raiders, which ran until roughly 10:15 p.m. in the East, but it is projected to have averaged between 38 million and 40 million viewers. It may have been hurt by the tougher Globes competish, as ratings peaked in the second quarter (8:15-8:30 p.m. ET) -- unusual for a competitive game.
The Globes' preliminary adults 18-49 rating of 7.7/17 reps a 19% falloff from last year but is enough to make it the fourth highest-rated awards show of the past year, behind the Academy Awards (16.1/39), the Grammys (9.0/23) and the Emmys (8.1/20).
Show peaked in its final half-hour (8.4/21 in adults 18-49, 21 million viewers overall), after the football game had ended in the East.
Nielsen won't issue national ratings until Wednesday due to the Monday holiday.
As for the NFL playoffs, the conference championships averaged a 26.5 rating in the metered-market overnights -- up 18% over last year's 22.4 and the best for the league in four years.
The early game on Fox between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles (3:15-6:30 p.m. ET) scored a big 27.2 rating/47 share in the overnights, an increase of 13% over the early AFC final last year (24.0/47 for New England-Pittsburgh on CBS) and 8% better than the late NFC conference final on Fox (25.3/42 for Philadelphia-St. Louis).
Game did a 46.8/69 in Philadelphia and a 54.4/80 in Tampa.
The late AFC matchup between Tennessee and Oakland (6:45-10:15 p.m. ET) averaged a 25.9/37 in the overnights -- up 2% vs. the late conference final last year and 8% better than CBS' early conference final of a year ago. The San Francisco/Oakland market registered a 43.7/69 for the game, while Nashville did a 54.1/70.
Later start times gird gridiron ratings
Overall, moving the start times later helped the NFL increase viewership for its playoff games. For example, there was a roughly 12% larger available audience for the early game Sunday than a year ago (when it aired from 12:45-4:30 p.m. ET).
CBS averaged a 22.5/38 in overnights for its four playoff games this season, up 11% year-to-year. Fox's four contests averaged a 21.7/37, up 4%.
The Super Bowl, pitting Tampa Bay against Oakland, airs Sunday on ABC.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com