The striking writers have found the networks’ weak spot: awards shows.

Strike-hobbled broadcasts of the Golden Globes and the People’s Choice Awards posted historically low ratings this past week, drawing less than half their usual audience and resulting in millions of dollars of lost advertising.

And it could get much worse.

The Writers Guild of America is now targeting next month’s Grammy Awards on CBS and Academy Awards on ABC, two of the year’s most-watched awards programs, in hopes of forcing the studios to resume contract negotiations.
 
The numbers for the Globes were dreary.

Just 5.8 million total viewers tuned into NBC to watch Sunday night’s one-hour press conference announcing the awards, according to Nielsen, off 71 percent from the 20 million who watched last year’s three-hour ceremony.

It was the least-watched Globes since 1995, and the worst ever for NBC, which took over broadcasting rights from TBS in 1996. The network reportedly offered money back to advertisers, who last year poured some $20 million into the annual telecast.

The People’s Choice Awards last Tuesday were similarly stricken.

Last year the awards show, which allows viewers to vote on who should win, averaged a healthy 11.3 million total viewers. Last week’s telecast managed just 5.96 million, the worst in the awards show’s 33-year history.

That show was also presented in a modified magazine-style format following objections from the WGA. Members of the Screen Actors Guild, in solidarity with the writers, refused to show up to collect their awards, and without the stars, there was no reason for viewers to tune in.

And that may yet be the case for more upcoming awards programs. Yesterday the WGA began taking aim at the Grammys.

The guild said the show’s producers have not yet applied for a waiver allowing writers to script the program. Even if they do apply, the guild said, it’s not inclined to grant the waiver.

At the same time, the union began lobbying Grammy nominees and potential presenters who are also SAG members, such as Justin Timberlake and Queen Latifah, to skip the ceremony. That could have a devastating effect on viewership for the CBS special, which averaged 20 million viewers last year and drew an average $557,300 per 30-second spot.

Meanwhile, producers continue to insist that ABC's Academy Awards will air as planned in late February, though the WGA seems unlikely to grant a waiver for that telecast, either. Last year’s Oscars drew nearly 40 million viewers. 

With primetime broadcast viewership still relatively unaffected by the strike, knee-capping the awards shows has been by far the writers’ most effective tactic for drawing attention to their cause. It could be one way to force producers back to the bargaining table, which they walked away from last month.