The official Nielsen fast national ratings for the 96th Academy Awards came a bit later than usual Monday afternoon, but, in general, it was good news for AMPAS and its broadcast network ABC. This year’s Oscars telecast drew an average of 19.5 million viewers. That was up by 700,000 over last year’s 18.8 million. The program peaked in the final half-hour (10:00-10:29 PM ET) with 21.9 million viewers.
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In less great news, the show earned a 3.81 rating among adults 18-49. That’s slightly down from the 4.0 rating the 2023 telecast earned. Comparably, the 2024 Grammy Awards, broadcast on CBS on Sunday, February 4, had 16.9 million viewers (also a post-pandemic high), but 4.04 in the key 18-49 demo. Several factors are affecting the Oscars’ rating growth, including that the show was unavailable to stream live on Hulu or Disney+. The Grammys, for instance, were available on Paramount+ with the streamer saying its viewership doubled from 2023 to 2024.
Currently, the Oscars are only available the next day to stream on Hulu. It has been reported that ABC and The Academy will revisit this situation in contract re-negotiations this spring. In any event, the 2024 Oscars still managed to be the highest-rated awards ceremony since the 2020 Oscars earned 23.6 million viewers. And, comparably, we’re just 10 years from the “12 Years A Slave” vs. “Gravity” 2014 ceremony landing 43.6 million viewers.
The fact the ratings went up with the show beginning an hour earlier at 4 PM PT/7 PM ET, means that change will likely become the norm for future telecasts.
This year’s ceremony was highly promoted as the “Barbie” Oscars with host Jimmy Kimmel participating in a 4-minute promo trailer with members of the cast and the hyped first “live” performance of Original Song nominee “I’m Just Ken” featuring Ryan Gosling.