Golden Globes ratings down from last year

Ratings momentum for the Golden Globes loss some steam Sunday night.

Co-hosting for the third (and apparently final) year, NBC vets Tina Fey and Amy Poehler didn’t quite go out with a ratings bang. Sunday’s 72nd Golden Globes telecast delivered 19.3 million viewers overall for the peacock network, according to fast-official ratings from Nielsen.

This year’s numbers were down about 8% compared with last year, when the telecast brought in 20.9 million viewers.

The awards show had seen a turnaround since Fey and Poehler began their hosting duties in 2013. That year, the show rose nearly 30% — prompting a two-year deal for the duo. Last year’s telecast delivered the show’s biggest audience in a decade.

The former “Saturday Night Live” stars, who have been lauded for rejuvenating the awards ceremony, didn’t hold back in Sunday’s telecast, skewering Bill Cosby, poking fun at the Sony-North Korea debacle and roasting George Clooney over his new wife, Amal Alamuddin.

“Tina and Amy kill me,” Clooney told reporters backstage after accepting the Cecil B. DeMille award. “I think that they’re the best hosts of this show. Last year’s ‘Gravity’ joke was the best. Tonight, I thought it was hysterical. I hope they can talk them into [doing more].”

In the key demographic of adults ages 18 to 49, which is most coveted by advertisers, the Golden Globes earned a 5.8 rating, down nearly 11% from last year’s 6.5 rating in the demo but still making it the highest rated prime-time entertainment telecast in the demo since then.

And of those watching, some tuned out before catching wins for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Boyhood” in the comedy or musical and drama categories, respectively. The final hour of the telecast, which unveils winners of the major film categories, saw a steep dropoff.

For those that did tune in, it was a night of surprise and revolution. “Grand Budapest Hotel” beat out “Birdman” in the comedy or musical category, and “Boyhood” topped the drama category.

The TV camp also left it’s mark.

“Transparent,” a show about a transgender woman and her family, took home two top prizes (best comedy or musical and lead actor in a comedy or musical). Beyond the subject matter, the wins were groundbreaking in another way — they marked the first wins for Amazon, a company better known for selling merchandise than supplying original TV programming.

Elsewhere, the CW got the first win in its eight-year history via Gina Rodriguez’s triumph in the actress in a TV comedy or a musical for her performance in “Jane the Virgin.” And Showtime’s “The Affair” toook the drama series and drama actress categories.

Twitter: @villarrealy