Golden Globes viewership rebounded this year with 9.4 million viewers, an encouraging performance for a ceremony that had lost its luster and been weakened in recent years by allegations of racism and corruption against the jury.
The preliminary numbers released by CBS on Monday represent a clear improvement from the historic low of 6.3 million viewers in 2023.
Long considered an essential stepping stone to the Oscars and Hollywood's favorite night, the Golden Globes have experienced an existential crisis in recent years.
Due to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) scandals, the 2022 ceremony was boycotted and banned from television broadcast: The Los Angeles Times announced in 2021 that it had no Black members and that its members had accepted generous gifts from studios.
That organization that created the Golden Globes has since been dissolved and the awards have been purchased by private investors.
After profound reforms and the involvement of many voters from all over the world, the new owners promised a fresh start.
Sunday's ceremony, which notably honored the Oppenheimer film with five awards but shunned last year's other phenomenon, Barbie, seemed to show that Hollywood was ready to move on.
Many distinguished guests were in attendance, including Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Oprah Winfrey.
The only notable absentee was comedian Ricky Gervais, who declined the award for best stand-up show at an event he hosted several times.
The Golden Globes managed to get back on its feet despite the fiasco of his successor, Jo Koy, who was appointed to the role of master of ceremonies at the last minute this year.
His jokes, which weighed heavily on Barbie's chest or Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose in the Maestro – compared to a penis – fell largely flat, in a silent room.
The comedian's opening speech was summed up in a “sequence of humiliating moments,” wrote the New York Times.
However, Globes viewership remains well below pre-pandemic levels. In 2020, more than 18 million viewers watched the show.
Audiences at major awards ceremonies have been at half-mast for several years, particularly because young people spend more time on social networks or streaming platforms than in front of the television.