Divisive Golden Globes recover from 2023's record-low ratings as blockbuster films win

The "Barbenheimer" phenomenon seemingly helped lift the 2024 Golden Globes telecast to its highest ratings in years, Paramount announced Monday.

As the embattled organization shifted networks from NBC to CBS and awarded major blockbuster contenders like Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer at Sunday night's ceremony, the show pulled in 9.4 million viewers — around 50 percent more than the record-low viewership of the 2023 ceremony, which amassed a mere 6.3 million viewers. In addition to airing on CBS, the show, hosted by comedian Jo Koy, also streamed on Paramount+ for the first time ever, where it became the platform's second highest-streamed live event.

In an apparent effort to court more general-audience eyeballs, the Globes introduced two new competitive categories for the 2024 broadcast, including Cinematic and Box Office Achievement for films that grossed substantial amounts of money in domestic and global ticket sales, as well as Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television for popular comedic sets on TV and streaming (won by Ricky Gervais).

Among this year's major nominees in the Box Office Achievement category were Nolan's nearly $1 billion-grossing Oppenheimer — which also dominated with five overall movie wins — the third Guardians of the Galaxy film, Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour concert film, and Gerwig's $1.4 billion-earning Barbie, the highest-grossing film of 2023 and winner of the inaugural Box Office statuette.

Other high-profile 2024 Golden Globes contenders included Maestro director-star Bradley Cooper, Killers of the Flower Moon actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Wonka's Timothée Chalamet, hit streaming series Beef's Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, and most members of the ensemble cast of HBO's popular drama series Succession.

The Globes' 2024 telecast came after substantial changes for the organization, including the dissolution of the Globes' historic Hollywood Foreign Press Association membership group and the Golden Globes' acquisition by Dick Clark Productions in 2023.

Those changes marked the latest shift in the aftermath of a multi-year controversy for the Globes, which saw the group restructure its rules, membership requirements, and more following a 2021 Los Angeles Times exposé that revealed there were no Black journalists among the HFPA's 87-person membership at the time. Stars and publicity firms later distances themselves from the HFPA, and the Globes' longtime network partner, NBC, nixed the 2022 broadcast from its channels. The show eventually returned to NBC in early 2023, but hopped over to CBS following the end of the HFPA.

Following the 2021 controversy, the year's Globes telecast took an epic tumble in ratings, falling 62 percent to an all-time low on NBC. The next year the show was on the air, the show again took a ratings hit, shifting down to 6.3 million viewers — another record low.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV.

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