There was a time when the Academy Awards ceremony was must-see TV. It was one of the events people circled on their television calendar, like the Super Bowl. They’d hold watch parties and play games of predicting Oscar winners. That has become a rarer event. (Here’s a look back at some of the most iconic photos from the Oscars.)
The Nielsen ratings reveal a rather sad trend in Oscar viewership. After a slight uptick in 2014, the ratings on ABC for the industry’s biggest night plunged to an all-time low of 10.4 million viewers in 2021. That was the first year after the pandemic had devastated the industry as theaters closed, projects were postponed, and fewer movies were made.
In addition, recent Best Picture winners haven’t always been boffo at the box office. The 2013 Best Picture winner, “Argo,” was the last to bring in more than $100 million at the box office. People are streaming more content.
The program has a demographic problem, too: Fewer young people are tuning in. The 2021 show scored a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49, a key demographic for advertisers – a 64% slide from 2020. (The Academy Awards are not an outlier; award shows in general are falling in viewership.) Some viewers are also turned off by what they see as political posturing and advocacy for issues by award winners.
Viewership decline has come even as the Academy has tried to answer calls for greater diversity. There have been several notable Oscar firsts in recent years, such as Kathryn Bigelow becoming the female director to win an Oscar in 2010, and “Parasite” taking the honors in 2020 as the first Asian-made movie and the first non-English-language film to win for best picture. (These are 30 famous firsts in Oscar history.)
As Oscar viewership plummets, click here to see the most watched ceremonies since 2000
To determine the most (and least) watched Oscar broadcasts since the year 2000, 24/7 Tempo reviewed data on television viewing audiences from media analytics firm Nielsen. Oscar ceremonies of the last 23 years were ranked based on U.S. television viewing audiences.
Source: Pool / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
23. 2021 (93rd Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 10.4 million viewers
> Ceremony host: None
> Best Picture winner: Nomadland
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Source: Neilson Barnard / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
22. 2022 (94th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 15.4 million viewers
> Ceremony hosts: Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes
> Best Picture winner: CODA
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Source: Handout / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
21. 2020 (92nd Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 23.6 million viewers
> Ceremony host: None
> Best Picture winner: Parasite
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
20. 2018 (90th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 26.5 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Jimmy Kimmel
> Best Picture winner: The Shape of Water
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
19. 2019 (91st Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 29.6 million viewers
> Ceremony host: None
> Best Picture winner: Green Book
Source: Vince Bucci / Getty Images
18. 2008 (80th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 31.8 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Jon Stewart
> Best Picture winner: No Country for Old Men
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
17. 2017 (89th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 32.9 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Jimmy Kimmel
> Best Picture winner: Moonlight
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Source: Getty Images / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
16. 2003 (75th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 33.0 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Steve Martin
> Best Picture winner: Chicago
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
15. 2016 (88th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 34.3 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Chris Rock
> Best Picture winner: Spotlight
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
14. 2009 (81st Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 36.1 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Hugh Jackman
> Best Picture winner: Slumdog Millionaire
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
13. 2015 (87th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 36.6 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Neil Patrick Harris
> Best Picture winner: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
12. 2011 (83rd Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 37.6 million viewers
> Ceremony host: James Franco & Anne Hathaway
> Best Picture winner: The King’s Speech
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
11. 2006 (78th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 38.9 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Jon Stewart
> Best Picture winner: Crash
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
10. 2012 (84th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 39.3 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Billy Crystal
> Best Picture winner: The Artist
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Source: Evan Agostini / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
9. 2007 (79th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 40.2 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Ellen DeGeneres
> Best Picture winner: The Departed
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
8. 2013 (85th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 40.3 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Seth MacFarlane
> Best Picture winner: Argo
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
7. 2010 (82nd Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 41.7 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Steve Martin & Alec Baldwin
> Best Picture winner: The Hurt Locker
Source: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
6. 2002 (74th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 41.8 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Whoopi Goldberg
> Best Picture winner: A Beautiful Mind
Source: Carlo Allegri / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
5. 2005 (77th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 42.1 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Chris Rock
> Best Picture winner: Million Dollar Baby
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Source: Spencer Platt / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
4. 2001 (73rd Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 42.9 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Steve Martin
> Best Picture winner: Gladiator
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
3. 2004 (76th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 43.5 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Billy Crystal
> Best Picture winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
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Source: Handout / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
2. 2014 (86th Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 43.7 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Ellen DeGeneres
> Best Picture winner: 12 Years a Slave
Source: Getty Images / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
1. 2000 (72nd Academy Awards)
> U.S. television audience: 46.3 million viewers
> Ceremony host: Billy Crystal
> Best Picture winner: American Beauty
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