Ahead of the 74th annual Emmys on Monday, we take a look at which nominated series have done the best job of capturing audiences’ attention, how well Television Academy voters represent popular demand, and which shows have momentum ahead of awards night.
For a couple of years now, the nominees for the major awards have moved closer to popular opinion. But this year, the Emmys bucked that trend, according to data from Parrot Analytics, which takes into account consumer research, streaming, downloads and social media, among other interactions.
2021 looks like a high point for the Television Academy recognizing shows with greater popular appeal. Last year, the average show that received five or more major award nominations had 18.7 times the average demand for series during the nomination period. This year, that number has dropped noticeably to 15.2 times, on par with the 2018 and 2019 nominees. Will Monday’s final winners better reflect popular opinion? More importantly, is this a mere glitch in the trend or is the Academy regressing back into its echo chamber?
Overall, shows nominated for Outstanding Drama had the highest demand during the eligibility period. At the head of the pack was Netflix.Strange things”, which had 43.27 times the average demand for the series, well ahead of its competitors. After “Stranger Things,” the race for Best Drama nominees is much tighter. Four series had more than 20 times the average demand during the eligibility period: “Better call Saul,” “Euphoria,” “Succession” Y “yellow jackets.”
From a momentum perspective, demand for “Stranger Things” peaked around the time the nominations were announced after the second half of its fourth season was released on July 1. That drove demand for the show to stratospheric levels of more than 200 times the average demand for the show. but it has been falling ever since.
If recency is a factor in voters’ minds, AMC’s “Better Call Saul” may have had a better focus. His series finale was in mid-August, less than a month before the award ceremony. The show experienced its all-time peak demand that week: 88.95 times the show’s average demand on August 17. While “Stranger Things” is still in higher demand, “Better Call Saul” has maintained a level of demand significantly ahead of the others. nominees since the nominations were announced.
Among the nominees for Outstanding Comedy, there is less demand. AppleTV+”ted lasso” had the highest demand from the nominees (30.2 times the average demand for the series). Since becoming a huge hit on Apple TV+, the show has continued to garner audience attention, regularly appearing among the most-requested shows not only in the United States but also in countries around the world.
from HBO Max”tricksit falls notably behind the demand for other nominees, with only seven times the average demand for the series. This did not prevent it from being one of the most awarded shows at last year’s ceremony. “Hacks” sounds like the kind of made-for-Hollywood showbiz content that industry insiders love but struggles to resonate with broader audiences.
When we look at the demand since the nominations were announced, two shows beat “Ted Lasso.” Hulu’s”Only murders in the building” saw the highest spike in its demand in recent weeks following its end on August 23. FX’s “What we do in the shadows” was in the highest demand in the most recent week, as it just concluded its final season on September 6.
It’s a less crowded field in the Outstanding Limited Series/Anthology category with only five shows competing for this award. Looking at the performance of the eligibility period, there is a clear gap between programs with outstanding demand and programs with merely good demand. Hulu’s”pam and tommy” had the highest demand of these nominees (16.96 times), but “fool” (12.62 times), also from Hulu, and from HBO “the white lotus” (10.85 times) were in the same stadium. However, both Netflix’s “inventing ana” and from Hulu “abandonment” had less than half of the demand for “The White Lotus”. These two series clearly failed to resonate with audiences to the same extent during the award’s eligibility period.
When we look at the most recent trends, there has been a remarkable shakeup. “Dopesick” has had the most demand from the nominees for weeks. This is despite not releasing any episodes since November 2021. “The Dropout” has gone from significantly lower demand than its fellow nominees to having almost the highest demand a week before the awards. And it seems that the buzz around “Pam & Tommy” was a lightning bolt, as their demand is now on par with “Inventing Anna.”
While the industry recognition that comes from the awards has never really matched popular demand, the trend for several years has been for the Emmys to recognize the shows with the highest viewership demand. That trend was sharply broken this year, as shows that garnered nominations drew noticeably less demand than in previous years. On Monday night, we’ll find out once again if popular demand is in sync with the shows that ultimately win and if the Academy is again moving away from popular opinion.
For more information from WrapPRO’s content partner, Parrot Analytics, visit the Data & Analytics Center.
