• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

The Monday airing of the “78th Emmy Awards” annual awards show on NBC was down 9% to 6.7 million Nielsen-measured viewers compared to a year ago.

In 2025, the Emmys aired on CBS on a Sunday night, posting 7.4 million viewers -- its strongest performance since 2021.

NBC’s like-to-like comparison to the last time the event was held on a Monday night --- on Fox in 2024 -- showed the recent NBC telecast was up 41% (up from 4.4 million).

This year’s telecast also had some tough competition due to ABC/ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” telecast.

At press time, Nielsen had not yet released those “MNF” ratings. Typically the “MNF” game averages around 18 million to 20 million.

Estimates are that the “Emmys” brought in $22.6 million national TV advertising, coming from 146 airings, according to iSpot.

A year ago, the show aired on CBS and was estimated to have taken in $27.5 million (172 equivalized 30-second commercial units) in ad spend.

Major advertisers for this year’s Emmy show include Walt Disney’s Hulu, Foundayo (GLP-1 weight management), Meta (Facebook, Instagram), and pharmaceutical products (Evenity, Tremfya, Rhapsido, Yeztugo).