Critics Choice Awards Doubles Ratings On E! & USA
Chelsea Handler kicked off the 2026 Critics Choice Awards on E! and USA Network with gags about Leonardo DiCaprio, Canadian hit series Heated Rivalry and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
That coupled with big wins for the DiCaprio-led One Battle After Another, Timothée Chalamet, Jessie Buckley, Jacob Elordi and Amy Madigan helped boost the Versant networks’ numbers.
The show, which was simulcast across the two former NBCUniversal cable networks, more than doubled linear viewership compared to last year. It averaged 726,000 P2+ viewers on the two stations, which was up 125% versus last year’s telecast, which only aired on E!.
This year’s show scored 350,000 total viewers on E! alone, which was an increase of 8% on last year’s show, if we’re comparing apples with apples.
Young people also tuned in with viewers in the 18-49 demo up 127% to 229,000, per Nielsen. This made it the most-viewed Critics Choice Awards among the demo since 2022, when it aired on both TBS and The CW.
As such, it’s no surprise that digital numbers were up. The show landed 15M total digital engagements, which was up 63% from last year. It also had 266M social engagements, which includes video views, likes/comments/shares and stories impressions across E! News, E! Entertainment, E! Insider, and USA, which was up 219% year-on-year.
One Battle After Another won Best Feature after Paul Thomas Anderson pulled off an upset for Best Director and won Best Adapted Screenplay for the Warner Bros thriller. Chalamet won Best Actor for A24’s Marty Supreme, Buckley won Best Actress for Focus Features’ Hamnet, Elordi won Best Supporting Actor for Netflix’s Frankenstein and Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for Warner Bros.’ Weapons.
Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster Sinners took home a co-leading four statuettes on Sunday: Best Original Screenplay, Young Actor or Actress (Miles Caton), Score and the inaugural Casting and Ensemble prize. Netflix’s Frankenstein also won four awards including Costume Design, Hair & Makeup and Production Design alongside Elordi’s win.
Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters won two for Best Animated Feature and Song, and Apple’s F1 also took a pair for Best Sound and Editing. Neon’s The Secret Agent won Best Foreign Film, and Paramount’s The Naked Gun took Best Comedy.
