It is television's version of the Oscars.

But that was not enough to stop The Emmys from being crushed by Sunday Night Football as viewing figures plunged to their lowest levels in history.

The US television audience for Sunday's show dropped to an average of just 11.3 million viewers on ABC, the lowest ever in its 68 year run.

Taking the plunge: Jimmy Kimmel was not able to stop The Emmys getting their lowest viewing figures in history on Sunday

It faced off against the might of the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings on NBC, and the contest was almost as one-sided the 2014 Super Bowl, with a mammoth 22.8 million tuning in for to catch the sports action live.

Usually the host has to carry some of the can for poor viewing figures, but Jimmy Kimmel has actually been praised for his performance at the star-studded ceremony.

According to ABC the number of Emmys viewers was down around 5 per cent from last year, when the ceremony was broadcast on Fox.

Given the show is television's equivalent of the Academy Awards, it seems appropriate they are following similar patterns

Taken down: It was crushed by Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football

A puzzling development: Jimmy actually received good reviews despite the dismal figures

Back in February the show, which was hosted by Chris Rock, was attracted a television audience of just 34.3 million, a mammoth drop on the previous year's 43.7 million.

Network television did not even fare particularly well this year, with the biggest Emmy winner being HBO's fantasy hit "Game of Thrones," which won the coveted best drama series for a second year.

The other big winner was FX's The People v O.J. Simpson.