Nielsen Social: Emmys Fall to Football

The 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards was the most "social" program on Facebook and Twitter on TV show Sunday night, but NFL football drew the biggest online crowd by at least a hundred yards.

The Emmys telecast did have bragging rights head to head, however.

The Emmys drew 1,367,000 uniques, blowing away the entertainment competition on cable and broadcast. Starz's Power was number two with 98,000, followed by Fear the Walking Dead on AMC at 56,000. The only other broadcast in the top five in social was The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey, at number four with 37,000.

The NFL grabbed the spotlight with the top four TV shows in social across broadcasting and cable. Topping the list was the Dallas Cowboys defeat of the Washington Redskins with 2,578,000 uniques, followed by the Minnesota Vikings victory over the Green Bay Packers (2,171,000), the New England Patriots victory over the Miami Dolphins (1,459,000) and the Pittsburgh Steelers win over the Cincinnati Bengals (1,480,000).

The only NFL game in the top five social that did not beat the Emmys was the Denver Broncos' win over the Indianapolis Colts (1,127,000), which was on opposite the Emmy telecast.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.