From host Jimmy Kimmel’s poking fun at almost everyone to Oppenheimer reigning the night, the Oscars 2024 gave us so many moments. Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, and Robert Downey Jr. took home their first-ever Academy Award, while Emma Stone bagged her second.
From Ryan Gosling stealing the show with his Oscar performance of I’m Just Ken to John Cena who came to present the Best Costume Design Award being almost n*ked, it was a night of celebrity fashion, looks, and trends.
This year’s Oscars has seen an average of 19.5m viewers marking a 4% gain on 2023 for a four-year high. There’s no specific reason as to why this much surged in viewership, but it could be for Oppenheimer that won seven awards, and Barbie which had to settle with just one.
The 96th Academy Awards Ceremony Pulled in 19.5 Million Viewers
It was a night to celebrate, of course. But, even more for ABC network that has seen a huge rise in viewership. The Awards ceremony drew 19.5 million viewers on ABC Sunday night, the highest in the last four years, which was a 4% increase from the previous year.
However, the ceremony scored a 3.81 rating in the 18-49 demographic, a key one for advertisers, which was low compared to last year’s 4.0 rating. The 2023 broadcast drew 18.8 million viewers. The pandemic-affected year of 2021 saw the lowest in these four years with just 10.4 million viewers. It saw quite a jump in the next year with 16.6 million. (Data via Deadline)
The Award ceremony in 2020 that took place just before the lockdown was quite high with 23.6 million viewers. But it saw a decline following COVID-19. Though, it has been observed that the viewership in the last four or five years is on average growing, it’s still not getting near to what it used to be a decade ago. The 2014 Oscars saw 43 million viewers when 12 Years a Slave won the Best Picture Award and Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett won Best Actor and Best Actress for their roles in Dallas Buyers Club and Blue Jasmine respectively.
What Do Netizens Say About this Surge in Viewership?
From poking fun at Madame Web‘s box office bomb to making a not-so-funny one at Robert Downey Jr.’s past, host Jimmy Kimmel, for some viewers was quite unpleasant to watch this year, with some saying it cringe-worthy.
Despite it all, the awards saw an up in viewership and netizens think there are some reasons for it.
It was the best Oscars we’ve had in a decade
— The Moonlight Warrior 🌙 (@BlackMajikMan90) March 11, 2024
Blame Barbenheimer for this. It was a summer phenomenon that brought people back to theaters. So naturally, they want to see the movies succeed.
— ReelTalker (@TalkerReel92) March 11, 2024
that's what happens when good movies drop
— Andradé (@detailsmove) March 12, 2024
John cena performance spiced it all up 👌🏾
— @Godfrey077 (@SCXenocide) March 11, 2024
All’s well that ends well, and that was exactly what happened last night as Oppenheimer ruled the tally and deservingly, though it fell short to Ben-Hur (1959) Titanic (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) which won 11 Academy Awards, a record that is still untouched.
