The 97th annual Academy Awards noticed drew 18.07M viewers throughout ABC and Hulu on Sunday evening, per Disney.
Probably not the quantity that the Mouse Home hoped for, contemplating it’s a little bit of a decline over the previous two years. It was a few 7% lower from final 12 months’s four-year viewers excessive of 19.5M viewers and was simply barely decrease than the 12 months prior, when 18.8M tuned in for the ninety fifth annual Academy Awards in 2023.
Earlier than this 12 months, viewership had been on a gradual incline, rising heftily from the hostless 2021 Oscars, which drew an viewers of 10.4 million. In 2022, the 12 months of the slap seen all over the world when subsequent Finest Actor winner Will Smith took a whack at presenter Chris Rock, viewership leapt as much as 16.6M.
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Who’s to say how the viewers was impacted by the a number of technical glitches that Hulu viewers skilled all through the evening. The problems began early on, with experiences that some customers couldn’t entry their accounts when the present started. Others say they have been kicked out of the printed earlier than the final two classes have been introduced.
There’s additionally the sheer size of the present. At 3 hours and 47 minutes, it was one of many longer Oscars on report (however not the longest, by far, as some ceremonies have lasted effectively over 4 hours). Longer reveals can typically be a more durable promote to maintain audiences engaged.
Nevertheless, like final 12 months, the Academy opted for an earlier begin time Sunday, kicking off the shindig at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, that means that the present stayed largely in primetime. That has actually helped retain among the viewers who might have tapped out in earlier years, when it was fairly widespread for the Oscars telecast to go previous 11 p.m. ET.
The 97th Academy Awards noticed Sean Baker set a report by profitable 4 Oscars in the identical evening, for a similar film. Anora took house the highest prize, and Baker claimed the awards for Finest Enhancing, Finest Director and Finest Authentic Screenplay. Mikey Madison scored the movie one other win for Lead Actress. Adrien Brody took Finest Actor for A24’s The Brutalist, 22 years after his win for The Pianist, and Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin shocked few with their wins for Finest Supporting Actress and Actor.
See the full listing of winners right here, and take a look at Deadline’s overview of the Conan O’Brien-hosted telecast right here.
