The viewership for this year’s Oscars ceremony had a 4% increase, with 19.5 million Americans watching.
This brings its viewership to the highest level since 2020, indicating three years in a row of increased viewership despite the impact of Covid on the organization and public enthusiasm for awards ceremonies.
However, although it increased from the 18.8 million viewers in 2023, it saw a slight decrease in the important 18-49 age group, with a 5% drop compared to last year. The event, once again hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, started an hour earlier than usual, which was seen as a tactic to increase viewership.
Since its peak in 2014 with over 43 million viewers when 12 Years a Slave was awarded best picture, viewership has decreased. The 2014 ceremony, hosted by Ellen Degeneres and including a widely shared selfie, was the most highly viewed event since 2000.
Christopher Nolan’s biographical film Oppenheimer was the big winner at the recent awards ceremony, taking home a total of seven awards, including best picture and best actor for Cillian Murphy’s performance. With a box office revenue of over $950 million last summer, it is also the highest-grossing film to win the best picture category since 2004’s Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
Even though Barbie, the top-earning movie of last year, only received one award for its original song, it was still prominent throughout the night. The film was featured in the opening skit and two of its songs were performed, including one led by Ryan Gosling.
On the Academy’s official YouTube channel, Gosling’s performance is the most-watched video from the night with over 1.3m views to date. Close behind is Robert Downey Jr’s acceptance speech with 1.2m.
Viewers in the UK had the opportunity to watch the program on ITV for the first time, with an average audience of 630,000 viewers. The show lasted until 2:30am GMT.
In the earlier months of this year, the 2024 Golden Globes attracted 10 million viewers, increasing by 50% compared to the previous year. The Grammys, occurring weeks later, also experienced a 34% increase in viewership.
Source: theguardian.com
