The comeback of reside occasion TV continues.
ABC’s telecast of the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday drew 19.5 million viewers, hitting a four-year viewership excessive, in response to Nielsen. The reside TV viewers was up from final 12 months’s 18.8 million, the third consecutive 12 months that Oscar viewership has grown.
The scores report will immediate cheers at ABC and the academy, which bumped the beginning of the venerable awards ceremony to 7 p.m. Jap, an hour sooner than normal, within the hopes that extra viewers would stick round via the ultimate classes.
That method appeared to pay dividends, as did the quite a few nominations for the large field workplace hits “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — a change from latest years when extra obscure movies dominated the ceremony. Jimmy Kimmel additionally acquired heat evaluations in his fourth outing as host, leaving him one away from matching one other late-night star who moonlighted on the Oscars, Johnny Carson.
Nielsen stated that Sunday’s Oscars had been the most-watched community awards present since February 2020, extending a latest development the place viewer curiosity has perked up for the form of mass cultural occasions that struggled throughout the pandemic.
In February, 16.9 million individuals watched the Grammy Awards, a 34 % enhance from final 12 months. Viewership of the Golden Globes in January rose 50 % in contrast with a 12 months in the past. The Tremendous Bowl between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers beat scores information with an viewers of 123.7 million. Even scores for the 2023 Tony Awards, historically the least-viewed of the “EGOT” quartet, rose modestly.
At Sunday’s Oscars, Billie Eilish sang her pop ballad “What Am I Made For?” and Ryan Gosling delivered a cheeky but devoted efficiency of “I’m Simply Ken.” The choreography, which drew on Busby Berkeley movies and the Marilyn Monroe musical “Gents Desire Blondes,” was complemented by a cameo by the thrash-rock guitarist Slash and a bevy of supporting Kens from “Barbie,” together with Simu Liu.
ABC, which has the printed rights to the Oscars via 2028, stated that it had bought out its promoting stock for Sunday’s occasion. The community didn’t share costs, however promoting executives stated ABC had charged $1.7 million to $2.2 million for a 30-second spot, up barely from final 12 months. A few of the adverts turned up within the broadcast itself, like a plug for Don Julio tequila, wherein Guillermo Rodriguez, a Kimmel sidekick, supplied the beverage to celebrities within the viewers.
In 2021, for a stripped-down pandemic Oscars held in a Los Angeles prepare station, solely 10.4 million individuals tuned in. Viewership rose in 2022 to 16.6 million individuals, partly due to the weird spectacle of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.
Nonetheless, there isn’t a query that TV viewing habits have modified. Earlier than 2018, the Oscars telecast had by no means dropped under 32 million viewers.
