Smaller, more intimate Emmy viewership didn't prevent excitement as Schitt's Creek, Zendaya ruled the night

Despite news outlets reporting a drop in Emmy Awards’ viewership, the fan engagement on Twitter showed a silver lining with a high level of viewer engagement.  The 72nd airing of the Emmys awards was very different from years past, continuing to navigate pandemic related restrictions. Of the 6.1 million viewers that tuned in, which was down 12% from 2019 and nearly half of those that tuned in 10 years ago, was still a passionate crowd that emoted their support and excitement for winners and disappointment for those that did not.

The Emmy’s New Format Was Able To Engage Fans

• The 72nd Annual Emmy Awards were able to elicit extremely high levels of engagement from those tuned in, with over 672K total Tweets and over 230K total Emotional Reactions, for a Reaction Rate of 34%
  • Compared to the 2019 Emmy Awards which had 754K total Tweets and 233K Emotional Reactions, the 2020 Emmy Awards were able to maintain the same level of Emotional Reactions while driving a 3% higher Reaction Rate, indicating a more emotionally engaged audience for this year’s awards
• Overwhelmingly, the awards displayed positive Emotional Reactions such as ‘love’ (32%), ‘congrats’ (30%), ‘enjoy’ (7%), and ‘excited’ (5%)
  • Testimonials:
    • Love: “DAN LEVY'S SKIRT SUIT IS AMAZING. #Emmys”
    • Congrats: “So well deserved. Miss Regina King worked it!!”
    • Excited: “what i learned from the emmys is i have to watch succession”
• The ‘dislike’ (5%) Emotional Reactions are mainly driven from fans upset that their favorite shows didn’t win
  • Testimonials:
    • “Sarah Snook was robbed. #Emmys2020”
    • “Yvonne Orji was ROBBED.”
    • “Jeremy Strong rules but any best actor award that doesn’t even nominate Bob Odenkirk is trash”
• The high rate of ‘crazy’ Emotional Reactions were driven from Schitt’s Creek winning 9 total Emmys (a record for a single season of a comedy), Zendaya winning her first Emmy for her performance in Euphoria, and Jason Bateman hiding among cardboard cutouts
  • Testimonials:
    • “So what is this - the Emmys or the Schitt's Creek show? #TheEmmys”
    • “ZENDAYA WON HER EMMY OMFG IVE NEVER SCREAMED SO LOUD”
    • “AHHHHHH THEY ACTUALLY DID IT! THEY DID CARDBOARD CUTOUTS AND THE ONLY PERSON THERE IS FUCKING JASON BATEMAN! #Emmys”

Top Actor/Actress Drivers of Emotional Reactions at the Awards

• Fans of Zendaya were extremely excited for her first Emmy Award as lead actress in a drama, beating out big name actresses such as Laura Linney and Jennifer Aniston at the age of 24
  • Zendaya was able to drive over 104K total Tweets and over 32K Emotional Reactions, making her the largest driver of both total Tweets and Emotional Reactions across the entire show
  • At 10:40 Eastern Time, the emotion ‘congrats’ spiked around the topic of Zendaya’s win, showing the impact and importance of her win for viewers of the Emmy Awards
  • Top Emotional Reactions around Zendaya included ‘congrats’ (31%), ‘love’ (29%), ‘excited’ (20%), ‘crazy’ (11%)
  • Testimonials:
    • “THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY ZENDAYA DESERVES EVERYTHING 😍”
    • “ZENDAYA WON ZENDAYA WON ZENDAYA WON 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 #emmys”
    • “Emmy award-winning actress Zendaya 👀👀 WE LOVE TO SEE IT”
• Regina King was the second highest driver of Emotional Reactions throughout the night with over 39K total Tweets and over 13K Emotional Reactions, winning the award for lead actress in a limited series
  • Virtually all of the Emotional Reactions about Regina King were positive, with top Emotional Reactions including ‘congrats’ (44%), ‘love’ (38%), and ‘enjoy’ (3%)
    • Testimonials:
      • “REGINA KING, FOUR TIME EMMY AWARD WINNER!!! THE GOAT!!!”
      • “YAY REGINA KING!!!!!! #Watchmen #Emmys”
      • “@ReginaKing looking gorgeous and supporting #BreannaTaylor. #Emmys”

Schitt’s Creek Breaks an Emmy Awards Record

• Schitt’s Creek broke Emmy Awards history on Sunday night, winning a (comedy series) 9 total awards for a single season
• Outside of breaking an Emmy’s record, Schitt’s Creek was also the top Emotionally Reacted to show of the night with over 28K total Tweets and over 11K Emotional Reactions
• While the top two emotions were generally supportive of the show, some viewers were annoyed (12%) that Schitt’s Creek won endless amounts of awards
  • Testimonials:
    • Love: “Schitt's Creek sweeping the #Emmys . WE LOVE TO SEE IT! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍”
    • Enjoy: “I just started Schitt’s Creek and I am confident all these wins are correct.”
    • Annoying: “Okay can we please move passed comedy because I’m really over Schitts Creek constantly winning #Emmys”

Takeaways

• Despite lower ratings, the Emmys were able to maintain extremely high levels of Emotional Reaction and engage their audience emotionally, more than previous years
• Zendaya was a massive driver of Emotional Reactions this year as she won her first Emmy Award for best lead actress in a drama series
• Outside of breaking an Emmy Award’s record with 9 wins in a single season for a comedy series, Schitt’s Creek was the number one show contributor of Emotional Reactions at the 2020 Emmy Awards
  

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