Oscars hit all-time ratings low
Despite a night of historic firsts and a major upset in the best-actor category, the 93rd Academy Awards could not avoid the TV ratings slide that has hit all award shows during the pandemic.
ABC’s telecast of the Oscars hit an all-time low with an average of 9.85 million viewers watching on Sunday, a drop of 58% from last year, according to Nielsen. The previous low was in 2020 with 23.6 million viewers.
Oscar telecast producers Steven Soderbergh, Stacy Sher and Jessie Collins were up against the same obstacles faced by other awards shows that experienced similar ratings declines. The Golden Globe Awards (6.9 million viewers on NBC) and the Grammy Awards (8.8 million viewers on CBS) both saw year-to-year audience decreases of more than 50%.
The Oscars show aired nearly two months later than it has in recent years, and the live audience in attendance was limited, with fewer than 200 participants seated in a banquetlike setting at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. With limited exposure in movie theaters that were mostly closed over the last year, many TV viewers were unfamiliar with the nominated films, which may explain why clips were used less than usual.
— Los Angeles Times
Harry and Meghan to lead ‘Vax Live’ concert
Prince Harry and Meghan will serve as the campaign chairs of Global
Citizen’s effort to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to medical workers in the world’s poorest countries.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will appear at “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World,” to be taped Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and air on ABC, CBS, FOX, YouTube and iHeartMedia
broadcast radio stations on May 8, Global Citizen, the antipoverty nonprofit, announced Tuesday.
Harry and Meghan are also leading an effort to raise money for the vaccine-sharing program COVAX, which hopes to produce $19 billion to pay for the vaccines for medical workers.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will also appear during the broadcast as part of the “We Can Do This” initiative to increase confidence in COVID-19 vaccines. The concert will be hosted by Selena Gomez and headlined by Jennifer Lopez.
Foo Fighters, Eddie Vedder, J Balvin and H.E.R. are also set to perform at the concert, with hosts Chrissy Teigen, David Letterman, Gayle King and Jimmy Kimmel and actors Ben Affleck, Nomzamo Mbatha, Olivia Munn and Sean Penn now also set to appear.
The event is part of a growing chorus seeking wider, more equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. As of April, 60 nations had still not yet received any COVID-19 vaccines, Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans told the Associated Press.