Sunday night’s Academy Awards broadcast had one of the lowest numbers of people tuning in ever, with just over 19.5 million viewers. Plus, it didn’t do so well with younger viewers compared to last year.
While this year’s broadcast did a little better than last year’s 18.8 million viewers, it’s still not great. It’s the most people watching since the pan demic started, but it’s only a four percent increase overall.
But let’s put things in perspective: back in 1998, when “Titanic” won Best Picture, a massive 57 million people watched the Oscars. Even in 2014, there were still 43 million viewers.
This year’s Oscars had some big winners like Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which made a ton of money at the box office and won Best Picture. Plus, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” was also popular. The show even started an hour earIier to try to get more people to watch.
Despite all that, the Oscars only had a tiny increase in viewership compared to last year. And it’s especially worrying that fewer young people watched this year, with a five percent drop in viewers aged 18-49. This could mean the Oscars are losing touch with today’s culture.
This decline isn’t just happening to the Oscars. Other award shows, like the Emmys, are also seeing fewer and fewer people tuning in. Just last month, the Emmys had a record low of 4.3 million viewers. Compare that to over 20 million viewers back in 2000.