Ratings drop for Golden Globes

Sunday's off-colour Golden Globes, filled with bleeps and controversial jokes, did not result in better viewership. About

18.5 million people tuned in to NBC's broadcast in the United States, down about 5 per cent from last year's total of 19.3 million.

In the 18- to -49-year-old bracket important to advertisers, the awards programme was down slightly, to a 5.5 rating compared with last year's 5.8. The broadcast, however, was an improvement over the last time Ricky Gervais hosted the show in 2012. Sunday's Globes had nearly two million more viewers than that performance.

The Globes' viewership also looks a little better than other major awards programmes. Last year's Academy Awards drew

36.6 million viewers, which was a drop of nearly seven million viewers. Last year's Emmy Awards had 11.9 million viewers, its worst performance ever.