Oscars Lose 6 Million Viewers From Last Year, Set New All-Time Low

The 2020 Oscars drew 23.6 million total viewers on ABC, down a whopping 6 million TV viewers, or minus 20% from last year. Like 2019, Sunday’s Academy Awards went host-less.

That didn’t work out this time around, but the mix of movies may have been the even bigger problem.

In the key demographic, adults 18-49, the year to year drop-off was even steeper. Last night’s show received a 5.3 rating in the demo, according to Nielsen, down 31% from the prior Oscars.

Last year’s Oscars earned 29.6 million viewers, which was up 12% from the previous year. Among adults 18-49, the growth was +13% from 2018 to a 7.7 rating.

The 2018 Oscars held the previous all-time low audience tally with 26.5 million viewers.

Also Read: After Oscars, ABC Will Remain Last in Viewers Among Big 4 - But Maybe Not in Key Demo

If you need to find some sort of silver lining, the 92nd Academy Awards were were still television’s most-watched entertainment special since the 91st Oscars. Of course, that was also totally expected.

This year’s celebration of the best in cinema had 4.9 million more viewers than the Grammy Awards (18.7 million viewers on Jan. 26, 2020) and 5.3 million more viewers than the Golden Globes (18.3 million viewers on Jan. 5, 2020).

Not doing it for you? This probably won’t either, but social activity was up from last year. Sunday’s show garnered 20.6 million total social interactions, up 16% from last year.

Find Sunday’s winners here. It was a big night for “Parasite” and director Bong Joon Ho. “1917,” “Joker,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and “Ford v. Ferrari” were the other films with multiple wins.

Some of the high-level winners included Brad Pitt, who took home his first acting Oscar with a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” Laura Dern was named Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Marriage Story.”

Renée Zellweger won Best Actress for her playing Judy Garland in “Judy.” Joaquin Phoenix was named Best Actor for playing the title role in “Joker.”