The 82nd annual Golden Globes ratings are in, and they’re Wickedly good.
According to VideoAmp data, Sunday’s Golden Globes, which went up against NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup of the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions, averaged 10.1 million viewers, which was on par with final numbers from 2024.
The show’s live-streaming audience was up 9% year over year on Paramount+ and the CBS app. Plus, this year’s event drove 40 million social interactions on the night, making it the most social Golden Globes ever, up 124% year over year.
The ratings figures were from VideoAmp due to Paramount’s ongoing contract dispute with Nielsen.
In 2024, Nielsen’s figures for the first revamped version of the Golden Globes on CBS and Paramount+ initially showed a 9.4 million viewer average. The final numbers then put it at more than 10 million, up 50% from the previous year on NBC and the largest Globes audience in four years. The big ratings boost helped lead CBS to sign a five-year deal with the awards show.
The 2024 ratings came despite the show being plagued by a poorly received opening monologue from host Jo Koy, who later said he “fell a little short.” Other issues included congested seating at the Beverly Hilton, which had winners struggling to make it to the stage, and the overall awkward production that even led to Elizabeth Debicki jumping in her seat following an audio glitch when her nomination was announced.
However, 2025 was a different story.
The show still had some snafus. For instance, while presenting an award, actor Seth Rogen called out the production’s awkward camera angles, which put the framing way up in the presenters’ faces. But host Nikki Glaser started the show with a widely praised monologue, making quips about Hollywood at what she called “Ozempic’s biggest night” and even parodying award-show musical sketches by calling herself out for doing a “Pope-ular” mashup of Conclave and Wicked.
#GoldenGlobes host Nikki Glaser does a Conclave-themed rendition of “Popular,” from #Wicked. https://t.co/QUzDz2Lepj pic.twitter.com/pM5VFLrczK
— Variety (@Variety) January 6, 2025