Emmy Awards 2020: Jimmy Kimmel on why he believes virtual event will be 'lowest-rated'

The television's biggest night Primetime Emmy Awards will be going virtual this year. The award show host Jimmy Kimmel believes that the 2020 Emmys will be the "lowest-rated" of all time.

The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards is scheduled to be held on Sunday, Sept. 20. Executive produced and hosted by late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, the television's biggest night will take place from actors' homes or any other location of their choice.

Kimmel, who will be hosting the Emmy for the third time in his television career, is currently gearing up for "coronavirus pandemic-challenged Emmys."

Speaking to Deadline, the comedian expressed his thoughts about the upcoming award show. "I know everyone will get crazy when I say this, but this will probably be the lowest-rated Emmys of all time. I would bet almost anything on it. Of course it will."

He explained what he means by "lowest-rated Emmys." Kimmel believed that there is "still going to be a lot of people watching it." However, there is immense competition for the event and he thought it wouldn't perform the way it would have 10 years ago.

"If you think about it, these shows were our only choice, and you know, somebody decided to stop doing it, but out of courtesy they used to not have football games on opposite the Emmys, you know, as just industry courtesy, and that stopped, what, like, 5 or 6 years ago? To me, it's never about the ratings, because if that's what you're focused on, you're screwed," Kimmel said.

Kimmel, who previously hosted Emmys in 2012 and 2016 and emceed Academy Awards in the years 2017 and 2018, believes it is going to be a more complex job than it usually is. "So, you know, I got into this before the pandemic, and so things changed significantly from when I said yes, but I figured since I said yes, I had to stick with it. It's going to be a more complicated job than it usually is," he added.

In addition, he joked about this year's award ceremony being a "combination of the Emmy and Big Brother."

This year's Emmy Awards are going to be "very small" due to the ongoing global health crisis. There will be limited presenters joining Kimmel at the Staples Center. Some of the presenters presenting the awards are Anthony Anderson, Sterling K. Brown, Jason Bateman, Laverne Cox, Morgan Freeman, RuPaul, Gabrielle Union, Patrick Stewart, and more. Meanwhile, the number of awards being aired has been reduced from the usual 27 categories to 23.

The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards will air on Sunday on ABC at 8:00 pm ET.