Oscars Hit 4-Year Audience High With Earlier Start Time
Viewership of the Oscars grew for a third straight year, to deliver the kudocast’s largest audience since 2020.
Kicking off an hour (OK, 54 minutes) earlier than usual, ABC‘s Jimmy Kimmel-hosted telecast on Sunday night drew 19.5 million total viewers, up 4% from last year’s ceremony.
The Oscars thus reigns supreme over this winter’s other awards shows, outdrawing the Grammys telecast on CBS by 14%, the Golden Globes on CBS by 105%, and the Emmys on Fox by 333%.
ABC says that viewership peaked during the show’s final half-hour, with 21.9 million total viewers. (Because one or two of you are about to ask: ratings for the “earlier” 7 o’clock Eastern time hour are not yet available.)
Leading out of the 96th Oscars, a special airing of Abbott Elementary (read recap) scored series highs in both total viewers (with 6.9 million) and in the coveted 18-49 demo (scoring a 1.42 rating).
TVLine readers gave this year’s Oscars telecast an average grade of “B.” Kimmel’s monologue also rated a “B,” while Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” performance netted an “A” and Ryan Gosling’s rousing “I’m Just Ken” scored an “A+.”
It was back in 2022 that viewership for the Oscars surged for the first time in a long time, following a steady slide that over a decade saw its audience plummet 74 percent (to an all-time low of 10.4 million viewers in 2021). All told, that 2022 telecast — which brought back the concept of a host(s) and featured a 10 pm physical fracas between Will Smith and Chris Rock — wound up reporting 16.7 million viewers, up 60% from the final count for 2021.
Want SCOOP on any of the above? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
The Live+Same Day numbers reported in TVLine’s daily-ish ratings column do NOT reflect a television program’s overall performance, given the increased use of delayed playback via DVR and streaming platforms, plus out-of-home viewing. These numbers (Nielsen fast nationals, unless specifically denoted in bold as finals) instead aim to simply illustrate trends or superlatives. Steve Harvey is not a judge or lawyer and merely offers an alternative forum of dispute resolution.
I thought they’d do better with Barbie and Oppenheimer as nominees. Too bad. If they can’t do better than this with a “big” movie winning, it won’t ever happen again.
That’s what Abbott Elementary should be making on a regular, crossing fingers they hold some of those viewers for the remainder of the season or at least a few more episodes.
I loved last night’s show! Oscar’s and Grammys both really did it right this year.
Let’s be real, it had nothing to do with the Oppenheimer part of Barbenheimer. ‘Twas all thanks to Barbie. While it might not have won the awards, its impact is undeniable.
Nonsense. Oppenheimer made near a billion dollars. It’s the most successful film to win best picture in 20 years. Barbie was not a major contender for Best Picture. Oppenheimer was the clear favourite. People have been waiting for Christopher Nolan to get his due for 15 years. He and James Cameron are the only superstar directors left. Even Spielberg can’t open a film on his name alone anymore. It was a DiCaprio, Streep moment, where an overdue, popular artist finally got their due. That is what people wanted to see.
How much money do you think Barbie made?
$1.4 Billion
Oppenheimer?
$952 million
While Oppenheimer is the third highest grossing movie to win Best Picture, behind Titanic and LOTR: Return of the King, don’t slag off on Barbie and that monster box office.
I didn’t. I just said the obvious. It wasn’t Barbie that generated interest in the Oscars. It wasn’t expect to win any major awards. Much like Avatar: The Way of the Water and Top Gun: Maverick, both Best Picture contenders that where huge, these three hits did not necessarily drive the viewership because none of these films were expected to win. To say Barbie was the main reason people watched is ridiculous. People wanted Christopher Nolan to finally get his due.
I don’t think your average viewer (people who aren’t as plugged in) knew that Barbie wasn’t going to win. Not to mention, you had performances of two Oscar-nominated songs from Barbie that people were stoked to see. I think Barbie was definitely a bigger draw than a three-hour period piece.
Agree to disagree. People wanted to see the most successful and influential director of the 21st century win his first Oscar for a wildly successful film. If your take was correct, Avatar: the Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick, both nominated for Best Picture in the same year would have caused a major impact. But, much like barbie, they were never considered competitive.
It’s hard to think people enjoy this. Then you have the hypocrisy of black face Kimmel as host.
Traitor Trump, lock him up.
Cope harder
So… the fourth lowest viewership in history. The highest in 4 years is the highest since 2020, which was the absolute bottom of the barrel.
Let’s not mince words: very few people actually care anymore.
Pretty much nothing nowadays outside of sports has a 19.5 million live audience anymore. It’s ridiculous to compare the ratings of the era of streaming and YouTube to numbers when only three major broadcasters even existed. People care. You, for instance, has a lot of contempt in the comment you took time of your day to write. There are no shortage of issues going o in the world. You cared enough to focus on the Oscars. Hence, you are an example that people care.
Don’t bother Robert. People like “5Minutes” will twist facts to the breaking point. Totally useless.
The ONLY reason I watched was to see “I’m Just Ken” , nothing else. Haven’t watched the Oscars in at least 30 years. Can’t imagine watching again.
It may not be the Super Bowl, but I’m going to be happy to see Abbott Elementary start beating The Conners in the ratings because of that Oscars lead-out opportunity, thereby improving its chances of being a long-term player for ABC Network.
I would NOT watch this show if Elvis himself came on. It has turned into such a disgrace. Never!
The In Memoriam segment was an epic disappointment. This should be one of the simplest segments of the show. The focus should be on the people we have lost within the previous year. That is what we, the fans, care about. We want to see the montage and be able to read their names onscreen – not see the artist singing, not dancers distracting from the tribute, not even wide stage shots or audience reactions. Please keep the focus on those we lost. It’s NOT rocket science. Please do better next year.