For the in-person ceremony of the Critics’ Choice Awards, the broadcast draws a record-low viewership

The Critics’ Choice Awards aired without much fanfare on Sunday night. Early Nielsen data indicate that 900,000 people tuned in to watch the CW’s coverage of the 28th annual event.

Although technically this year’s viewership is greater than the CW’s portion a year ago, the overall audience decreased to a low for an in-person ceremony (TBS did not simulcast the ceremony this year, so technically this year’s viewership is larger than the CW’s portion a year ago) Only 365,000 people watched the virtual Critics Choice Awards in 2021.)

This year’s drop in viewers coincides with the decline of every other awards show broadcast over the past few years. The Golden Globes broadcast on NBC on Tuesday received the lowest ever viewing figures.

During the three-hour Critics Choice broadcast, A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once won Best Picture, A24’s The Whale’s Brendan Fraser won Best Actor, and Focus Features’ Tár’s Cate Blanchett won Best Actress.

NBC’s coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Baltimore Ravens game for the AFC Wild Card won the night in terms of ratings. The game received approximately 21.2 million viewers and a 5.6 rating in the 18-49 age group that advertisers targeted.

Even though that is just a hair less than the Steelers-Chiefs matchup from last year, pro football is still the only sport that can bring in a lot of viewers for any broadcast network.

Despite the NFL regular season driving some record numbers for the broadcasters this year, ratings tend to be falling across the board. NBC’s Sunday Night Football saw an average of 19.9 million viewers over the course of the 18-week season, a 3 percent increase from the previous season.

On Sunday night, CBS’ lineup of East New York, which drew 5.1 million viewers, and NCIS: 4.5 million for Los Angeles.