Rating increase for Golden Globes awards this year

(AP) The Nielsen Co. says Sunday's Golden Globes awards ceremony got a nice ratings bump over last year.

With Tina Fey and Amy Poehler handling host duties, the NBC telecast was seen by 19.7 million viewers. That's an audience growth of 2.8 million viewers (or 17 percent) over last year's show, which was hosted by Ricky Gervais.

It was the top-rated Globes in six years, according to national figures released Monday.

For the fourth year, the Globes were televised live to all time zones, and some western markets also carried an encore telecast following the live coverage, which began at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

NBC said the telecast is currently the season's most-watched awards program, topping the CMA Awards, Emmy Awards, American Music Awards and People's Choice Awards.

The Grammy Awards will be held Feb. 10. The Academy Awards are Feb. 24.