Emmy Ratings: Bests Last Year's Numbers

It shouldn't come as a big surprise that one of TV's biggest events - the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards - was also one of TV's most-watched programs. The Jimmy Kimmel-hosted awards show, held on ABC Sunday, September 23, was up six percent in viewership from one year ago, having secured some 13.2 million viewers compared to 2011's 12.4 million pull.

Viewers across the country tuned in to make the Primetime Emmy Awards the night's most popular entertainment program, as they tuned into the 64th-annual event to watch shows like "Modern Family," "Game Change" and "Homeland" take home the night's top honors.

However, even with a strong 2012 viewership and rise in ratings compared to a year ago, the Emmys still will likely take second place on the evening when the official ratings come in. The victor is rival NBC's Sunday Night Football, which pitted the New England Patriots against the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch from last year's AFC Championship Game. The tightly contested game, which came down to a game-winning last-second field goal, is estimated to have drawn some 19.2 million viewers, at least as far as the overnight ratings are concerned.

Despite being topped by the NFL, the 2012 Emmy ratings are comparable to the numbers achieved by the 2010 event, which didn't compete with football because the NFL was still in its preseason schedule. So while ABC should be happy that its ratings are back up, the overnight TV numbers are still proof that the NFL - especially the league's marquee games - is king in America.