The early numbers for the Oscars are in, and they don’t appear to be successful.
Deadline reported the following:
Last night’s ceremony drew a 18.9 Live+same day rating in the metered market households. That was -16% from last year’s 22.4 rating, which was a nine-year low. The 18.9 appears to be an all-time low for the Oscars, below the previous low ratings point for the Oscars, logged with the 2008 telecast (21.9), hosted by Jon Stewart, when No Country For Old Men won Best Picture.
Last year, those metered market results last year translated to 32.9 million viewers — also a nine-year low — and a 9.1 rating among adults 18-49.
Raise your hand if you’re surprised. I would have been shocked if the ratings were really high. People are just sick and tired of Hollywood. It’s that simple. There’s no major mystery here.
Nobody likes being lectured, and Americans certainly don’t like being lectured by millionaire actors about how much Trump, Republicans and the flyover states suck. Surprise, surprise. Turns out, people aren’t overly eager to spend their time watching elitist members of Hollywood explain to us how they know everything and we know nothing.
It might also have something to do with the films nominated. Nothing really jumps off the page, but I doubt the nominations played the biggest role in the lack of viewership. We’ve seen declines in tons of awards shows. For example, the Grammy Awards also took a beating a little over a month ago. I guess people are just tired of it. The only question now is whether or not those in the entertainment industry will double down or keep up this dumb shtick.