Honestly, even before you watched last night’s Oscars ceremony, it was clear this was going to be one of the least-watched telecasts in the history of the Academy Awards. There were just so many things stacked against it. Yet, even knowing that, it’s still shocking just how few people actually tuned in last night to watch the Oscars.
According to Variety, the first ratings report from last night’s Oscars says the telecast was watched by only 9.85 million viewers. This represents a 58% drop from last year, where the event was viewed by 23.6 folks. Yes, that’s a decrease of 13.75 million people and a new record low. Ouch. So, why the steep decline? Well, there are a number of reasons that probably factored into this perfect storm of terrible ratings.
First, and perhaps foremost, the pandemic has disrupted the film industry in a way that is unprecedented. Films that would have normally premiered in theaters were sent to streaming, while others were delayed or barely made a dent in their typical releases. This led to a crop of Oscar nominees that are more “obscure” than what you might typically see and didn’t feature any real “blockbusters.” So, when you are honoring films that people just didn’t see, there’s not much incentive for casual viewers to watch.
Second, you have the fact that the pandemic forced the Oscars to experiment with the format of the show. While the organizers at the Academy were going out of their way to hype up the ceremony as a true awards show with big stars and no one in their pajamas accepting awards on webcam, it was still an uphill battle to convince people that was actually the case. The Oscars did most closely resemble a traditional awards show, especially in comparison to the Emmys, Grammys, and Golden Globes, people have been conditioned this past year to expect a Zoom-based Oscars, even if that wasn’t ever going to be the case.
Third, is probably the easiest to explain. The Oscars aren’t the only awards shows to suffer huge viewership drops during the pandemic. That’s just pretty much par for the course. So, again, a drop was fully expected.
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And finally, there is the fact that this year’s awards season (at least when it comes to films) seemed to be pretty predictable. For months now, people assumed “Nomadland” would win the big awards (and it did take home Best Picture, Directing, and Actress). And when the most-awarded, heavy favorite is a film that barely made a dent in theaters and was quickly shifted to Hulu, that’s a recipe for an “insiders-only” event. Sure, there were surprises that people were anticipating, but none that would turn a predictable awards show into a must-see event.
All that to say, there likely wasn’t one big reason why the Oscars dropped in viewership so much this year. The real question, which is what other award shows are going to have to contend with as the pandemic becomes a thing of the past, is whether or not they can rebound next time? Is this steep decline a sign of things to come or just a true anomaly? We’ll find out next year.
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