Emmys ratings: More than 15 million people tuned in, according to very early numbers

The ratings are in, and the Emmys possibly, maybe triumphed.

Very early numbers suggest that the Emmy Awards on CBS attracted about 15.3 million viewers to Sunday night’s broadcast, and may have been the most-watched telecast since 2006. On the other hand, Nielsen has yet to release the final numbers, and there will be adjustments, given that the event was live and there was a football overrun. (The down-to-the-wire Buffalo Bills and New York Jets game ended just before 8 p.m., causing the awards to start a few minutes late — and boosting the viewership to more than 19 million in the first hour.)

At this point, Neil Patrick Harris appears to have bested last year’s host Jimmy Kimmel, who scored around 13.3 million viewers. If the numbers hold, NPH will also outdo himself: His last Emmys hosting stint in 2009 had an audience of 13.5 million.

Looking at the Internet this morning, a ratings increase is a surprise — the Web is awash with negative reviews of yesterday’s sleepy, three hour-plus show, filled with memorials to deceased actors and puzzling song-and-dance numbers. And really, what was Elton John doing there?

However, it’s worth noting the numbers did drop steadily across the entire show, as only about 11 million seem to have stuck around until the very end to see “Breaking Bad” win for drama series and “Modern Family” scoop up its fourth consecutive win for comedy. (While waiting for final numbers this afternoon, we’re also looking at whether “BB” scored a series high for its penultimate episode, airing directly opposite the Emmys at 9 p.m. on AMC.)

Putting everything in perspective, the Emmys still remains tiny in comparison to other pop culture award spectacles. During this year’s Academy Awards, 40 million people watched Seth MacFarlane make misogynistic jokes; at the Grammys, a curious audience of 28 million people tuned in to see if any stars broke the dress code. Even about 20 million checked out the Golden Globes to witness Tina Fey-Amy Poehler madness.

The Emmys did draw more viewers than MTV’s VMAs, but not by too much; last month, 10 million tuned in to catch Miley’s twerk-fest and *NSYNC’s reunion.

Twitter-wise, however, the Emmys dominated last night. According to Nielsen company SocialGuide, there were about 927,500 tweets on Sunday about the Emmy Awards, compared with 325,000 for “Breaking Bad,” and just 126,00 for the series finale of “Dexter.”