This looks like the start of rehabilitation. The Golden Globes ceremony rewarding films and television series, which lost its luster after several controversies, experienced an encouraging rebound with an audience of 9.4 million viewers during its broadcast on Sunday, January 7, on the national network CBS. These preliminary figures revealed Monday January 8 by the American channel represent a clear improvement, after the historic low of 6.3 million viewers last year.
Long seen as an essential springboard to the Oscars and Hollywood’s favorite evening, the Golden Globes, the first awards ceremony of the season in the United States, have gone through an existential crisis in recent years.
They had been boycotted and deprived of television broadcasting in 2022, because of the scandals surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA): the Los Angeles Times revealed in 2021 that it had no black people and that its members accepted lavish gifts from studios.
This organization, which created the Golden Globes, has now been dissolved and the awards have been bought by private investors. After profound reforms and the inclusion of many voters from around the world, the new owners promised a new start.
Fiasco of comedian Jo Koy at the presentation
Sunday’s ceremony, which largely celebrated the Oppenheimer film with five awards but shunned Barbie, the other phenomenon of last year, seemed to demonstrate that Hollywood was ready to give up. Many distinguished guests were present at this 81st edition, like Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Oprah Winfrey. The only notable absentee, comedian Ricky Gervais, snubbed the prize for best stand-up show, awarded during an event that he himself presented several times.
The Golden Globes managed to bounce back despite the fiasco of his successor, Jo Koy, who was charged with the role of master of ceremonies at the last minute this year. His jokes considered heavy on Barbie’s chest or Bradley Cooper’s nasal prosthesis in Maestro – compared to a penis – largely fell flat, in a silent room. The comedian’s opening speech was thus summed up in a “sequence of mortifying moments”, tackled the New York Times.
However, the Golden Globes audience remains well below its pre-pandemic levels. In 2020, more than 18 million viewers watched the show. Overall, audiences for major awards ceremonies have been at half-mast for several years, in particular because young people spend more time on social networks or streaming platforms than in front of the television.