Oscars audience appears to rise as shorter show attracts viewers
THE audience for Sunday’s Academy Awards telecast improved from a year ago, according to the early ratings, as more people tuned in for a shorter ceremony without a host.
The overnight ratings on Walt Disney Co.’s ABC were up between 6 per cent and 14 per cent from a year ago, according to reports. The early ratings are subject to change and a final viewership tally is expected later Monday.
The show was marked by a brisker pace and a diverse group of winners, including the first competitive Oscar for director Spike Lee. It ran slightly over three hours. Last year’s telecast ran almost four hours and brought the lowest viewership for the Oscars in history.
On Sunday, ‘Green Book’, the Universal Pictures film about race relations in the US South in the early 1960s, won best picture, an upset over Netflix Inc., which had campaigned heavily for its film, ‘Roma’. This year’s Oscars did not have a host for the first time in three decades.
The apparent ratings boost is a rare bright spot for the television landscape. Live events, such as awards shows and sports, were once considered a ratings magnet but have declined in recent years along with the rest of TV viewing as more people drop cable TV for online options. Prior to this year, the audience for the Oscars had fallen every year since 2014. Even with shrinking viewership, ad prices for the program have remained strong, a reflection of how hard it is for marketers to reach a large live audience in today’s fragmented media landscape. ABC was getting US$2 million to US$2.6 million for every 30second spot during the Oscars telecast, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. — The Washington
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