Movies

2025 Oscars TV audience declines from last year to 18 million viewers

BBG News

I was quite surprised to learn that, as a viewer myself, the number of people tuning into this year’s Oscars dropped by almost 8%. It’s been a while since the ratings for an ABC broadcast dipped like this – back in 2021 was the last time it happened. Quite intriguing!

It’s not surprising that ratings have dropped since most films competing for this year’s Oscars didn’t perform well at the box office. For instance, “Anora,” which took home the award for Best Picture and four additional statuettes, was also a commercial flop.

During the past year, an average of approximately 19.5 million viewers tuned in during the broadcast when “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie”, two movies that generated around $2.3 billion collectively at the box office, were showcased.

In a nutshell, Sean Baker’s movie titled “Anora,” which revolves around an impulsive and unfortunate romance between a sex worker and the son of a Russian tycoon, has generated $16 million at the domestic box office with an initial budget of $6 million. To put that into perspective, the collective box office earnings of the 10 nominees for Best Pictures amount to a staggering $1.6 billion.

As a die-hard fan, I had the incredible honor to host the event for the very first time – yes, you guessed it, it was Conan O’Brien! Once a beloved figure in late-night network television, he has now transitioned into the realm of podcasting royalty.

In 2021, viewership for the Oscars reached a record low of 10.5 million people, as live award ceremonies were affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The broadcast, which drew approximately 30 million viewers just two years ago, has experienced a decrease in its viewership due to younger audiences preferring shorter clips on social media platforms instead of live, extended telecasts that last over three hours. However, it continues to draw enough viewers to remain among the top-rated non-sport programs for the year.

2022’s show experienced a surge in ratings following Will Smith’s unexpected appearance on stage where he interacted with Chris Rock. It was also the year that the film “CODA” from Sundance won the Best Picture award.

This year, ABC anticipated a larger viewership as they planned to air the Dolby Theatre event on Hulu, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. Previously, viewers had to subscribe to a pay TV service to stream the Oscars from ABC’s website.

Hollywood Inc.

The significant drop in ratings for the Grammys and Golden Globes has the television industry pondering just how low the Oscar ratings might fall.

For certain viewers, the Hulu live stream encountered technical issues and abruptly ended during the awards ceremony, specifically before Mikey Madison, star of “Anora,” received her lead actress award and her film was announced as best picture. The stream halted at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time, coinciding with the scheduled ending time for the broadcast, which went on for an additional 20 minutes.

Disney did not break out how many people watched the Oscars on Hulu.

This year, for the second time, the Oscars were moved to a 7 p.m. Eastern start time to avoid losing viewers due to the show often running longer than the 3.5 hours allotted by ABC.

Disney has expressed their regret for any inconvenience caused by the service disruption, providing instead an opportunity for viewers to watch the entire broadcast at their convenience on-demand.

The performance started featuring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande singing “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” which is one of the most successful commercial productions. Additionally, there was a heartfelt tribute to the first responders who worked tirelessly during the Los Angeles fire rescue operations. Two LAFD officers even incorporated some showbiz humor during their onstage appearance.

O’Brien was largely praised by critics for his stint as host.

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2025-03-04 05:31

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